Blame Education Ministry not us

THE EDITOR: We respond to a recent report in one of the daily newspapers whereby the Minister of Education, Mrs Hazel Manning, stated that the architects have caused the delay in Schools Construction Programme. Our investigations have found this statement to be without merit.

The delay in the Schools Construction Programme has been caused by indecision by officials in the Ministry of Education in finalising the Design Briefs for the schools and in giving the necessary approvals for the architects involved to proceed from one stage to the next, and the slow payment of fees to architects, which would cause them to proceed on other income generating jobs that would assist them in servicing their overdrafts and meeting other monthly expenses.

We therefore kindly ask the Honourable Minister to look at the operations within her ministry to see where there are blockages in the system that are causing the delay in the Schools Construction Programme.

JO-ANN MURREL
President
Trinidad and Tobago Institute of Architects