British Gas head takes over at Port Authority

This was disclosed to Newsday by Garcia who also revealed that Presi-dent George Maxwell Richards has signed the vesting order to split the PATT into three corporate entities which should be operational in 2006.

Garcia told Newsday that of the current nine-member PATT board, only three members would remain.

Those persons are Seamen and Waterfront Workers Trade Union president Michael Annisette, Shipping Association president Sonya Voisin-Tom and Ruth Van Lear.

The outgoing PATT chairman said while the port faced some challenges during the three years and ten months he was at the helm, he was confident that a suitable foundation had been laid for the incoming board to build on.

Garcia said under his stewardship, the additional berths were built at the Port-of-Spain port, more land was acquired for the port, additional equipment was purchased and vessels (two fast ferries and a conventional ferry — Cat, Lynx and MV Sonia) were wetleased to improve the levels of service on the Tobago seabridge. He expressed confidence that the new PATT board would build on the foundation laid by its predecessor and would continue to improve the efficiency of the Port-of-Spain port.

The outgoing PATT chairman said the President has signed the vesting order to establish the PATT’s successor companies — the Port of Port-of-Spain (to handle port cargo operations), Port-of-Spain Infrastructure Company (Posinco) and the TT Inter-Island Ferry Service (to manage the domestic seabridge). Garcia said all that was needed now was for the political directorate to take the necessary action to establish these companies.

Garcia expressed his thanks to the Government for being given the opportunity to serve at the national level and pledged to continue to serve the country in his capacity as a director of the TT Housing Development Corporation.