Saith is the new Minister of Energy

Saith, who is 70 years old, will hold the new portfolio in addition to his existing portfolio of Minister of Public Administration and Information.

Apart from this, no other changes in the Cabinet were announ-ced. Saith replaces Eric Williams, who resigned as Minister of Energy last week following bribery charges.

Asked if he was up to the task, Saith said, "Obviously the Prime Minister thinks so. It is not an easy ministry (Energy) but I will give it a try," he said in his usual self-effacing manner.

Saith however conceded that he had a fairly good idea of what the issues in the ministry were. He currently chairs the Energy Task Force, which is a sub-committee of the Energy Sub-Committee (chaired by the Prime Minister) on which Saith also sits. Saith said that a lot of the major matters are analysed by the Energy Task Force before going to the Energy Sub-Committee.

On the view that the Energy Sub-Committee is really in charge of the ministry, Saith said the committee examines major projects in the energy sector and is involved in policy formulation.

Among the issues Saith said he plans to tackle is the problem of quarrying. "We need to regularise the quarrying situation and make more lands available for the production of more aggregate because the country is demanding more and more of it (aggregate)," he said.

Saith is going to the ministry today on a familiarisation visit.