THA’s $2.7B budget passed

The budget, which was subsequently passed by the House, was criticised by Jack in an exhaustive two-and-half-hour presentation.

Jack launched a broadside against the current PNM Assembly administration for its handling of the problems besetting the island.

From deficiencies in healthcare delivery including queries over the still-born Tobago Hospital project, to allegations of corruption on roadworks and other projects, the Minority Leader, who is chairman of the opposition Democratic Action Congress (DAC), hit hard with stinging criticism.

The Government administration in Trinidad was not spared. “In Trinidad there hasn’t been much respect for planning; and that is why things are happening the way they are down there,” Jack declared.

Alluding to the new hospital project which has been halted for quite some time, Jack said it was the “flagship piece” of the current PNM-controlled Assembly when it took office in 2001.

He noted that five and a half years after the fact, the Finance Secretary was telling the House that at the end of the arbitration process — now in progress between the Government/ THA and the contractor — the THA was hoping to take control of the project.

Jack alleged that the project, which was originally estimated to cost $135 million, had now chalked up cost overrun to the tune of some $200 million.

At the same time, charging there was no “comprehensive proposal” on the health services sector in the budget document, the Minority Leader lamented the situation at the existing Scarborough Hospital.

He claimed that due to the lack of a functional Chemistry Analyser, “it has cost us more than $2 million to outsource tests etc from the Scarborough Hospital.

“It is a fact that a young man from Belle Garden died because we didn’t have a tablet to give him. That is quality health care, PNM style! There are people who, because of the transfer time (to Trinidad), died; there are people who, because of the transfer time, lost limbs.”

Touching on alleged corruption within development projects, the Minority Leader, citing examples, said that some projects which were listed as “achievements” by the Finance Secretary, had been in progress for four to five years.

“We need to stop the haemorrhaging of our resources. We need to understand that the way we deal with some of these matters, is going to determine what kind of life we enjoy down the road,” Jack stressed.

“So we spending money; but the question is, are we getting value for money?”