I wish him the highest commendation and promotion.

CLYDE U PADMORE San Fernando

Manickram’s attorney Richard Clarke-Wills expressed concern that despite the new Criminal Proceedings Rules, he is yet to receive a summary of the evidence against his client. “I thought a prosecutor would have been assigned,” Clarke-Wills said. He said it was like, ‘extracting blood from stone’, to get answers from the prosecution, adding it appears the new rules have made no difference.

Prosecutor Insp Winston Dillon said while he did not want pre-empt the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, he could say that statements were obtained from witnesses but are yet to be sworn to and the police file into the murder investigations is expected to be sent to the DPP by May 23.

In keeping with the new Criminal Proceedings Rules which mandates the defence to state its case from the outset, Clarke- Wills indicated that the case for the defence will be one of alibi.

The matter was adjourned to May 31.

Many times our economic gurus have spoken of getting the country into the boat building business as a means to create high-value employment and produce a high-value export commodity.

So instead of going to the Chinese, British or New Zealanders to buy a vessel, we should hire the expertise from abroad and use local talent to build our own. This would be the first step in our strategic plan to become world players as shipbuilders.

The geographics, infrastructure, energy, talent and skilled labour are all already here. Hence, the investment to diversify and retool should be relatively small.

Once successful, TT can build boats for the local coast guard and then offer to our Caricom neighbours.

With an impeccable reputation of quality and on-schedule delivery we can start to compete on the international market within the next decade.

We built the giant and complex Juniper offshore platform. Why can’t we build our own fast ferry?

NICHOLAS J WILLIAMS Cascade

Walters, who was instrumental in Sunday’s win for the Red Force Divas against Barbados in the Regional Super50 final in St Vincent, again produced a match-winning performance.

She registered an unbeaten 84 and later captured three wickets for 12 runs as the South/Central team restricted North-East to 96 for 9 in their allotted 20 overs.

Walters and national junior captain Reniece Boyce had earlier shared a solid 51-run first wicket partnership before Boyce was run out for 18 via the combination of Aliyah Joseph and Karishma Ramharack who dislodged the bails. Playing before an appreciative crowd, Walters batted right through the innings as South/ Central amassed 127 for five in 20 overs.

She stroked eight fours in her entertaining innings. Ramharack emerged as North/ East’s leading bowler with two wickets for 14 runs off four overs while skipper Anisa Mohammed took one for 29 from four overs.

North/East were 52 for two in 9.2 overs in their reply but spintwins Kamara Ragoobar and Walters combined to wrest the initiative for their team and prised out three wickets each.

Ragoobar, bowling the leg-spin variety, claimed three for 18 from four overs while Walters, bowling offspin, enhanced her reputation as a dependable all-rounder by taking three wickets for 12 runs over her four overs.

Profits on an underlying Replacement cost basis, the main measure watched by analysts, came to $1.5bn. This was up from $532m in the first three months of 2016 and higher than the $1.26bn consensus forecast by analysts.

The results added to evidence of recovery in the energy industry after an 80 per cent increase in oil prices from the 12-year lows recorded early last year. ExxonMobil and Chevron, the two biggest US oil groups, both last week beat market expectations with sharply higher first-quarter earnings.

BP’s results, described as “strong” by analysts at Jefferies, provided signs of momentum for a group that has been laid low in recent years by the $62bn cost of cleanup and compensation stemming from its 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the US.

The company’s shares rose 2.4 per cent to ?4.53 in early morning trading in London.

“We’ve got a good quarter under our belts but it’s just one quarter and there’s no complacency,” said Brian Gilvary, BP chief financial officer. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do and major projects to bring on stream.” Production rose by 5 per cent in the first quarter to 3.5m barrels per day, as the first of seven new projects expected this year came on stream in Trinidad, with more to come in Egypt, the North Sea and the Caribbean.

The group has also made a series of acquisitions to further replenish reserves after the retrenchment, involving asset sales, which followed the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

BP’s operating cash flow rose 47 per cent to $4.4bn in the three months to March 31, excluding Deepwater Horizon expenses.

This helped keep the dividend steady at 10 cents per share. However, Deepwater Horizon payouts of $2.3bn during the first quarter caused BP’s net debt to edge up to $38.6bn, from $30bn one year ago, as the group continued to meet liabilities stemming from a disaster that killed 11 people and spread pollution across the Gulf of Mexico.

Gilvary sad BP’s debt-to-equity ratio of 28 per cent was within the range the group was comfortable with, and reflected a lag between Deepwater Horizon payouts and proceeds expected in the months ahead from $4.5bn to $5.5bn of planned disposals intended to cover those expenses.

In the past month, BP has agreed to sell a 50 per cent stake in the Shanghai Secco Petroleum Company to its local partner, Sinopec, for $1.68bn, as well as its sprawling Forties pipeline system in the North Sea to Ineos, the petrochemicals group, for $250m.

Bob Dudley, BP chief executive, said the year had started well with robust earnings and cash flow in both the group’s upstream and downstream businesses, with further benefits to come from new projects starting production.

“We expect these to drive a material improvement in operating cash flow from the second half,” he added. BP’s upstream earnings from exploration and production came to $1.37bn on an underlying replacement cost basis in the first quarter, compared with a loss of $747m during the same period last year.

Downstream earnings, which include refining, marketing and chemicals, came to $1.74bn, down slightly from $1.81bn last year but above analysts’ expectations.

Gopee-Scoon said Export TT has identified a programme for the rest of this year which will look at exploring new business opportunities in these countries. She said the American Chamber of Commerce is leading the Nicaragua initiative while the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce is planning a mission to Guyana.

The minister said ExporTT is looking at Cuba, Panama, Canada, Costa Rica. In terms of strengthening the non-energy sector, Gopee- Scoon said there are preliminary discussions for the expansion of the TT International Financial Centre (TTIFC) to include a new TTIFC tower, hotel and convention centre.

The TT women defended their 164 total admirably, bowling out the Bajans for 143. It was a team effort. Well done, women.

Mr Minister of Sport, some sort of acknowledgement is vital, especially during these present times.

Maybe the women can give their male counterparts some pointers. Boy, do they need them.

They have proven that form is temporary but class is permanent.

AV RAMPERSAD Princes Town

We are told that the decision was made by the Sports Company (SPORTT ) in consultation with Lara, whatever that means.

However, the stadium is owned neither by SPORTT nor Lara.

It is owned by the taxpayers of TT and, hence, there should have been wider consultation in deciding a name for the stand.

Things like TV polls would have been useful in gauging public sentiment. I mean, not even the TT Cricket Board was consulted? In the words of that foxy son of the soil, that’s insulting.

One newspaper reported that the chairman of SPORTT said it was also one of the reasons (naming a stand after Tendulkar) that they were able to convince Tendulkar to attend the opening and play in the match carded for the opening. Sounds like a bribe to me, for a short-term gain that has no lasting benefit, at least not to the people of TT .

In any case, if Tendulkar needed a stand to come for the opening, it shows he has no real interest in this country, so why are we naming a stand after him? (But we may be doing him a disservice — he would have come anyway, and we are being told stories.) But, seriously, was that really the level of thinking that was brought to bear on this matter? Well, folks, it would be nice to have Tendulkar at the opening. How can we get him to come? We’ll name a stand after him. Brilliant! And foolish. But perhaps it was simpler. Lara just said he wanted a stand named after Tendulkar and SPORTT meekly complied? The bigger question is why would anyone, with any national pride, want to name a stand in a national facility after a foreigner? Let us agree that Tendulkar was a great batsman and a very likeable fellow; his presence would certainly add excitement to the opening. So it really is a pity that, due to some people’s short-sightedness, his name has become embroiled in a local controversy.

But national facilities, built with taxpayers’ money, must be named after national heroes, such as Lara.

Of course, if Lara had built the stadium with his own money, he could name any stand whatever he wanted, even the Kim Kardashian Stand, for all I care.

To get an idea of how the public felt, I asked at least a dozen people what they thought about naming a stand after Tendulkar.

Not a single person thought it was a good idea. Some were quite strong in their comments: We have no pride. We have no shame. Whoever decided that should be fired. Pure madness. We do not value our heroes. It’s an insult to our long line of distinguished cricketers. What happen to Ramadhin (Sonny) and Rangie Nanan? And other comments of that ilk.

It is clear that hardly anyone supports the idea of naming a stand after Tendulkar, not when there are so many deserving local heroes, and SPORTT / Lara must rescind that decision.

On a related note, when did the name change from Brian Lara Cricket Stadium to Brian Lara Cricket Academy? I thought this was a public stadium, merely named after one of the world’s best ever batsmen.

But one already gets the distinct impression that Lara is calling the shots, being led to believe that this facility is his to do with what he pleases, rather than one to be used for the public’s benefit. I sincerely hope this is a wrong impression but word on the ground makes me sceptical. Time will tell.

NOEL KALICHARAN via email

Two of the three survivors were present yesterday, when Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan announced commencement of the long awaited Sealots Pedestrian Overpass at the corner of Production Avenue and the Beetham Highway, a few metres away from where the accident occurred.

Haydee Paul and her two daughters Shakira, seven, and Akasha, eight, were killed when they were struck by a car driver by a policeman as they tried to cross the Beetham Highway. Ryan Rampersad, Amanda Lall and Abigail Assing were also knocked down by the policeman’s car but survived, although they were badly injured. Rampersad is now wheelchair- bound.

Lall wept yesterday as she recalled how her children are now her primary caregivers since she has been unable to work ever since the accident. “My head hurts constantly because my skull was fractured and there was bleeding in the brain. I can’t walk for long distances.

In the small house where I live I can only move around to go to the toilet and the bath.

“My children have done enough for me. I can’t thank the Lord enough for them. They treat me as they would a baby. I want to walk again and be normal but I am in pain. I have steel pins in my arm and my leg,” she cried. Rampersad, who was 20 at the time of the accident and a father of two, said he wants motorists to drive with more care. Speaking with a constant slur, Rampersad said it is important for drivers to understand that speed kills.

He suffered frontal cranial injury which left him with a speech impediment and in a wheelchair.

The overpass is expected to be completed within five months and should cost about $10 million, according to Minister Sinanan.

Delivering the feature address, Sinanan said when he was first made minister, plans for the overpass were already there but there were some challenges with the land.

“I told them if they can’t sort out the land, go and start to dig and the owners of the land will come forward. No one came forward and this project should have been done a long time ago. I have to admit there is a lot of bureaucracy especially when you have to deal with different agencies. So when you get to the point where you get the break down like this, you feel like you have achieved something,” Sinanan said.

At 7.45 pm on Monday, gunshots were heard and a report was made to police. Officers and residents found Gabriel Bedeau on the road bleeding from gunshot wounds. He was taken to the Sangre Grande Hospital and remains warded in a serious condition.

Police said that 12 hours later, they were called back to the area as Bachan’s body was found.

Officers led by Ag Supt Phillip and including Ag Insp Ken Lutchman, Sgt Lopez, Sgt Campbell and PCs Mootilal and Hernandez visited the scene. Bachan’s body was removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for post mortem. Police said when they were first called out on Monday after the shooting, they did not find Bachan’s body because of poor lighting in the area.

Police said Bachan was a labourer.

No motive has been established for the murder and no arrest has been made. The murder toll stood at 172 up to press time.