Sharma: Let locals benefit from oil, gas

FYZABAD MP Chandresh Sharma would like to see Trinidad and Tobago nationals reap greater benefits from the current energy boom in oil and natural gas. He spoke yesterday in the House of Representatives on the government motion to remove customs duty from equipment used for petroleum exploration/extraction. Sharma suggested ways in which locals could more directly benefit from energy revenues. Firstly, he lamented the irony that there were communities mired in poverty in those areas of the country where we derived our greatest energy revenues.

While the premises of oilfield operators were supplied with running water for example, often no such facility existed for persons living nearby. He urged that this be corrected. His second suggestion for local people to benefit from the energy boom was more directly related to the contents of the current motion. Sharma said that the proposed exemption from duty payable under the Customs Act was to apply to imported goods, but not to goods manufactured in Trinidad and Tobago. He wondered how this provision would apply to goods whose parts had been imported, but which were actually assembled to completion in Trinidad and Tobago. He wanted the motion to take account of this grey area and to try to boost local participation.