$12 M EXPANSION OF SCARBOROUGH JETTY

The Jetty at the Scarborough Port is soon to be extended at a cost of $12 million funded by the Tobago House of Assembly (THA). The expansion project is to be undertaken by the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (PATT) in tandem with the THA. PATT will be operating as agents of the assembly, explained Secretary for Public Utilities/Infrastructure, Hilton Sandy. 

Plans for the jetty expansion were unveiled by THA Chief Secretary Orville London when he addressed the formal launch of the new computerised ticketing system for the inter-island ferry service, during a ceremony at the Scarborough Port Terminal building on Friday afternoon. “We can now say that the money has been sourced, and work should begin sooner rather than later. I think it’s $12 million expansion of the jetty which will allow us to bring to Tobago some of the largest cruise ships and other vessels to the island,” he announced. He specially commended Sandy and Port Authority officials for bringing the project on stream speedily, and expressed confidence that it would be completed in record time. 

London noted that the newly-introduced computerised ticketing system — taken in tandem with the proposed new ferry and jetty expansion — was just the beginning of a development thrust within the inter-island ferry service. “Because as the port begins to do things better the demand increases, and what we are hoping is that we are going to create more and more demand and bring more and more people from Trinidad to Tobago and vice versa,”  London asserted. He commended Port Authority officials for their initiative in taking up the challenge “to do new things,” and observed that notwithstanding the initial criticism and hiccups, there have not been many complaints about the new ticketing system. “So, continue making the lives of Tobagonians and Trinidadians more comfortable, and therefore make my life less stressful,” he quipped. PATT officials present included Christopher Mendez, General Manager and Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO); Leon Grant, Executive Manager of the Government Shipping Service (GSS) and Scarborough Port operations; and Head of Information Technology, Avagale Rajkumar, who outlined the workings of the computerised ticketing system.