$33M spent to repair Red House, courts

Despite Government’s proposal to move Parliament from the Red House to a new parliamentary complex to be built on the current site of the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court, the Senate yesterday learnt that some $33 million had so far been spent to renovate these two buildings.

In reply to a question from an Independent Senator, Attorney General Glenda Morean said that some $24.94 million had been spent to renovate and reconstruct the Magistrates’ Court. She said that sum had been spent prior to 2003. Reminded that the PNM Government’s 2002 budget allocated an additional $5 million for the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court, and asked whether she was not on board for the (Cabinet) decision to relocate Parliament, Morean declined to answer, replying: “That’s a new question”. Minister of Trade and Industry Dr Lenny Saith then replied to another question from an Independent Senator to disclose that some $8.847 million had so far been spent to renovate the Red House roof and building. 

This sum included $2.3 million to protect the new roof, $1.7 million to install the new roof, $1.8 million on surveys, and $1.26 million on new tiles. The question was also raised about the Summary Court (Amendment) Bill 2003 which was recently approved in the Senate.This will  rectify cases where prisoners file their appeals in time but the Prison authorities do not forward them to the Court of Appeal in time. When asked how many magisterial appeals had been dismissed by the Court of Appeal due to late filing by appellants in custody, and how many had actually been duly signed by the appellants within the statutory period, Morean replied that 27 persons had seen their appeals thus dismissed and that all of them had been properly signed within the time period.