Speaking at the workshop on private sector disaster resilience, Tewarie said one of the major challenges to relief agencies during times of crisis is the transport of much-needed supplies to hard hit areas.

“Yesterday (Wednesday) this workshop was held in Tobago and overshadowing the event was problems on the seabridge. Crucial to the success of any relief operation following a disaster, is the ability to get supplies to those areas affected the most,” Tewarie said.

He added that in addition to close partnering of private and public stakeholders during emergencies, open supply routes are also important in ensuring that relief efforts were focused and well coordinated.

“One broken link in our chain of response can disrupt our entire operation in getting relief and aid to areas that have been hardest hit by disasters and I would like to stress the importance of close communications between our public and private agencies that are providing relief efforts, so that responses are well organized and effective in containing and managing disaster responses.” Executive Director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), Ronald Jackson further emphasized the importance of transporting supplies and emergency personnel to disaster areas and urged government and the business community to join hands and lead the way in more proactive disaster response programmes

The programme, which was launched yesterday at the South East Port of Spain Boxing Gym on Picadilly Street in Port of Spain, will have its first fight card on July 1 at the Cosmic Boxing Gym in Marabella.

Stewart says he is here to bring boxing back to life in TT .

“We are trying to revive boxing once again in Trinidad and Tobago at the professional level. It has been lacking over the years.

Since my return here to Trinidad and Tobago, I have seen some fighters who have the ability and the talent, they just need a little more developing and a little bit of experience.” Stewart was this country’s second ever world boxing champion after Claude Noel.

Stewart won the World Boxing Association (WBA) light heavyweight crown in 1987, defeating Marvin Johnson of USA at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain.

Stewart believes this country has the talent to develop another world champion.

Stewart said, “I would like to develop the fighters and help them be a part of their growth as professionals. Trinidad and Tobago has a lot of talent that can be developed into strong professionals. They could compete internationally and maybe one day again we can produce a world champion in WBA, WBC (World Boxing Association) or IBF (International Boxing Federation).

My role will be as a coach to help and assist in any way possible.” Shanda Deo-Bickaroo of the Cosmic Boxing Gym is hoping that boxers in TT can make a living from boxing. “Our first step is to get the athletes working on a regular basis every month.

This would give them a regular pay day, allowing them to have some assistance to aid in their preparation for other fights.” President of the TT BA Cecil Forde, says local boxers must progress to the professional level.

Forde said, “We at the Trinidad and Tobago Association consider ourselves the nursery of boxing in the country. The young boxers develop their skills through the amateur boxing association.

However, at a certain time there must a vibrant professional boxing league.”

Former People’s Partnership energy minister Kevin Ramnarine cautioned that the population should not expect immediate production from the discovery as this would take several years before the field becomes operationalised.

“These two wells will take a couple years before they come into production as this requires infrastructure to be put down, so I would temper expectations of the population by saying this might take two to three years before we see natural gas from Savannah and Macadamia fields coming into the natural gas market,” Ramnarine said.

He added that fiscal initiative of the Partnership which included incentives for developmental and exploration drilling played a key role in encouraging the drilling program.

For his part, Conrad Enill, the energy minister in the then Patrick Manning-led administration said the find would add to the production of gas in Trinidad and Tobago as it deals with two issues; shortages and; the ability to contribute positively to the country’s coffers.

“Revenue means that government would have more choices available to it in terms of how it manages its expenditure profile,” Enill said.

“It will also be able to talk about growth in the economy because this is going to shift it up a little bit and whereas before there was absolutely nothing on the horizon, this certainly signifies that we are in a little better position than we would have been in before.

What I think is important though is that it is new technology that was able to get bpTT to make this announcement and if you apply that therefore to the Trinidad and Tobago acreage, it is very possible that the new technology that they will employ can see things that were not there before. And I think that is a very exciting possibility,” Enill said. Ramnarine was in full agreement, saying the Ocean Bottom Cable Seismic survey had allowed bpTT to have a better view of the acreage.

“One of the main things which made this possible was the application of new 3D seismic technology between 2011 and 2013 called the Ocean Bottom Cable Seismic survey which totally changed the game for BP in the Columbus Basin,” Ramnarine said.

The Basin is east of Point Radix, Mayaro and drilling took place in shallow to average water depths. He also pointed out that the company had been planning these two wells since 2011 saying, “things like this don’t just drop from the sky suddenly, this has been in planning, well design, success evaluation- those things take years to happen.” “It’s good news for Trinidad and Tobago.

It’s going to help us in the future because we need as much gas as possible,” he said.

Asked whether this find would mean the end of gas shortages, Enill said, “I don’t think it will be the end.

I think it will relieve some of the pressure because the contracted volumes for plants to operate at maximum capacity, they have to allocate the gas on a particular basis and dependent on how costly this gas is, it will either go into LNG or it will go into the petrochemical sector. But that is something that NGC (the National Gas Company) will have to work out.”

Eid will be celebrated on June 26. In making the announcement at the post-Cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre,St Ann’s, Community Development, Culture and the Arts Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said Government has had a long history with this type of funding over the years.

“It is looked at as a part of ensuring that our culture is preserved.

In that vein, it is done so that the communities that celebrate the various festivals can carry on traditions and ensure that our multi-faceted culture remains that way,” she explained.

However, Gadsby-Dolly reiterated that because of the country’s challenging economic circumstances, “we have had to make adjustements downward with respect to what is funded and how many groups can participate in the funding.” While some groups are unhappy with the funding they receive, Gadsby-Dolly said, “We want to ensure that certain festivals are sustainable and sustained in our country.” She said these groups must understand that over time, Government will not be able to maintain the level of funding they were accustomed to. Gadsby-Dolly said it was important for these groups now, “to look at how we celebrate things, what we celebrate and the extent to which we celebrate.” She added that some of the frills in these celebrations, “have to be brought down to the reality of our circumstances.” Gadsby-Dolly said there is a process by which requests for funding are approved and the funding is allocated.

Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young said Government is, “the protector of the taxpayer.” He added, “It is not a personalisation which people are attempting to do, with the Government and those who sit at the Cabinet level.” Young continued, “We take the decision on behalf of the taxpayers of TT.” He said people who make these claims, do not do so against the Government.

“It is not our money, it is citizens of TT money and they are the ones to whom they will answer to at the end of the day,” he added.

On Wednesday, Gadsby- Dolly refuted claims from Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar that Government did not provide funding for cultural and religious groups for Indian Arrival Day.

After a lifetime of observation and reflection, we find that our dreams for meaningful change remain dreams, and ascension to office by various political parties (with the possible exception of the National Alliance for Reconstruction) simply provided opportunities for a privileged elite and their cronies to “live off the fat of the land.” The trusting population of TT is expected to condone without murmur incidents of conspicuous consumption that involve unnecessary foreign trips, visits to ancestral villages, purchases of luxury vehicles subsidised by taxpayers, and embarking on expensive and unnecessary retreats to very exclusive venues.

Loopholes that provide for personal assistants and advisers are quickly filled by party hacks and relatives, some of them then proceeding to display their ineptitude in every way.

In TT , the views of the ordinary people are often contemptuously ignored as the elites of the State and their followers seize every opportunity to access any perks that can be even remotely connected to these officials’ positions and activities. I strongly resent this tendency to treat the population as mindless fools.

Was it necessary to have a dozen employees attend a prize-giving ceremony in Tobago? Was it necessary to hire four vehicles, or was it the responsibility of the Tobago House of Assembly to supply transportation? What adjustments were made to reduce cost as mandated by the Prime Minister? Furthermore, the argument by the Minister of Sport that because Caribbean Airlines and Magdalena Hotel are government-owned entities and therefore whatever money spent remained in government coffers is so flawed that I wonder at his competence to be a government minister.

He should realise that not all the money spent will go into the State’s coffers because a substantial amount would be costs incurred as a consequence of taking this inflated group to Tobago, and furthermore the taxis are not owned by the State.

I am of the view that critical thinkers in TT should come together to challenge these spurious excuses. Only then we can bring these excesses to an end.

I also believe that travel for meetings can be greatly reduced by using technologies such as Skype and video conferencing.

Furthermore, the various permanent secretaries and CEOs should be more vigilant in curbing wastage of taxpayers’ money.

DAVID SUBRAN via email

Unchecked State spending is the traditional way things are done.

And calling for investigations thereafter is the traditional way things are done.

Also, nothing coming of investigations is the traditional outcome from the way things are done.

However, laying down regulations and checks and applying sanctions to prevent lavish unchecked expenditure isn’t the way things are done.

If Sports Minister Darryl Smith accepts an invitation to five or six further sports engagements, who’ll pay the bills for those engagements? Also, if other ministers/State employers have similar engagements, who’s to absorb their bills? Taxpayers? Doesn’t the PNM Government believe that racking up $151,000 ($59,000 plus $92,000) in unplanned, unnecessary expenditure is reckless? When Finance Minister Colm Imbert did a detailed audit into ministerial overspending for the last 20 years, what was the total he got?

B JOSEPH via email

Commenting on the ruling made by Justice Frank Seepersad in the San Fernando High Court on Wednesday, Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs Stuart Young said this injunction was not in place when Seepersad made his first ruling on May 19 to stop the implementation of the tax.

In a statement on May 24, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said legal counsel advised that no injunction was in place at that time to prevent property owners from submitting valuation forms on a voluntary basis.

Imbert has repeatedly said the current exercise is an information gathering one and is not the tax’s implementation.

Young confirmed to reporters at yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s that, “the matter is going to be appealed.” He said the State’s attorneys would file the notices of appeal either yesterday or today.

Young also reminded reporters that the Court of Appeal will hear the State’s appeal of Seepersad’s May 19 ruling when it sits at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain on Tuesday.

He underscored that, “this Government has always said it will abide by the legal process.”

The 18-year-old walked into the Princes Town Police Station yesterday along with her aunt to say she was not missing but, left home to spend time with another aunt in Penal.

Baldeosingh, of Gangaram Road, Busy Corner, is a sales clerk at Better Value Limited in Princes Town.

Police said that at 5.45 pm on Monday, Natasha Ramsingh visited the Tableland Police Station and lodged a missing persons report saying the last time she saw her neice at home was at 7 am Saturday. When the teen failed to show up on Monday, Ramsingh said she decided to file a missing person’s report.

He called for the LED lighting to be reduced, particularly on the emergency vehicles of the police service.

While trying to improve illumination on emergency vehicles or to make emergency vehicles more conspicuous, he said, “We are also contributing to damage on the roadways.” In his contribution to the continuing debate yesterday in the Senate on the bill to amend the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act, Shrikissoon asked rhetorically, “Have you ever tried to drive behind a police vehicle flashing in front of you and you are afraid to overtake it no matter how slow they are driving because you could be ticketed?” He continued, “It is either you slow down and let the police vehicle go ahead, or you follow close behind and take the blinding lights.” He quoted an American Public University Systems writer who said that research shows a potential for LED lighting to be a distraction specifically as a result of the highly focused and intense light it produces.

Drivers, he said, are distracted by things outside of their vehicles.

He also quoted serving police officers in the United Kingdom who said that new strobe sirens fitted to police cars are so bright, they are blinding motorists and causing accidents.

In terms of digital billboards, Shrikissoon said evidence points to them being distractions on roadways.

They catch the eye and can heighten road safety risks in heavy traffic and in other traffic conditions, he said. Latest research on billboards, particularly digital billboards, and their impact on road safety, he said, shows that drivers tend to take their eyes off the road “for dangerously long gazes” especially when the display changes messages every six to eight seconds.

When driving from north Trinidad to the south, he said, he finds it very distracting when on approaching Chaguanas there is a big digital billboard flashing against a background that is “white light.” These types of billboards, he said, seem to be increasing in popularity as they seem to be profitable. Questioning whether or not they are regulated, he asked Government to look at it.

While the legislature was trying to improve road safety, he said, it also has to create an enabling environment to do so.

Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young made this point clear at yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s. Addressing a news conference at Piarco International Airport on Wednesday upon his return from Chile, Rowley condemned “the derogatory manner” in which Almagro dealt with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with respect to the ongoing tensions in Venezuela.

Asked whether Rowley’s position would jeopardise TT’s relations with other OAS member states, Young replied, “Absolutely not. TT has been very, very cautious and very calculated and very definitive in its position at the OAS with respect to Venezuela.” He said Rowley simply indicated, “that the opportunity for the OAS to have intervened and mediated in the Venezuela situation was lost by a very unnecessary aggressive stance, taken by a public servant who became the Secretary- General of the OAS.” He stressed TT was within its right to put this position forward.

“Our participation at the OAS on this matter continues. We continue to maintain our standard which is we will not allow there to be the railroading of any democratically- elected government and in particular our closest neighbour,” Young said. He added, TT continues to be involved in the sideline discussions, hoping that good sense will prevail with respect to this matter.

Young said TT-Venezuela energy discussions are progressing very well and Venezuelan Energy minister Nelson Martinez could be in TT for talks within the next two weeks.

He said even if there were no energy talks “on the table,” the position taken by Rowley is reflective of the supportive relationship between TT and Venezuela over the years.