Montano wants $115M for Costaatt

THE Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education, Danny Montano, is seeking to get $115 million to upgrade the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COSTAATT). He will also take to Cabinet tomorrow, notes outlining the plans for the College.

Montano disclosed this to Newsday on Monday during an interview at his St James office, where he spoke of plans to upgrade the College. Montano promised that government would do “everything to try to upgrade” the College and “students of the College will be beneficiaries of a fair amount of government attention.” He said he met with officials of the Ministry of Finance last Friday to discuss the College. The Minister said he had requested “five times the amount ($23 million) given last year.” He said he was confident that he would get a “fair amount of that sum.” The Minister also revealed that while the construction of the College’s campus was some years away,  in the short term, government was hoping to relocate students to better facilities. He said government was looking at accommodation at Victoria Avenue, Port-of-Spain and Trincity.

Montano disclosed that government was seeking to have all engineering students currently attending the John Donaldson and San Fernando Technical Institutes, assigned to the “very modern facilities” at the Trinidad and Tobago Institute of Technology (TTIT), Couva. The TTIT is a division of the National Energy Skills Centre (NESC). Montano said government will have to pay to have the students use the TTIT and that proposal may go before the Finance and General Purposes Committee (FGPC) for approval. Additionally, links with Association of Community Colleges in the US, UK and Canada are expected to be formalised which will bring a number of benefits including the exchange of information and lecturers. The Minister is hoping that the current 1500 student intake at the College will be doubled with the new plans.