The Trinidad and Tobago government says it believes something has gone drastically “wrong and crooked’ in the procurement of a vessel to service the sea bridge between Trinidad and Tobago.
“Yes . . . I just answered that question, I said yes, my yes means a lot to me,” Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley told a news conference following a meeting with various stakeholders to discuss the transportation and other woes being experienced by people on Tobago.
The government has already announced the appointment of a leading businessman as the sole investigator into the situation regarding the sea bridge fiasco involving the Ocean Flower 2 and Cabo Star vessels. A report is expected to be submitted within 30 days and there have been calls from the opposition and some stakeholders for the removal of the incumbent minister and the Board of Directors at the Port Authority.
Asked at the news conference if he was convinced something had gone drastically wrong and crooked in the Ocean Flower 2 transaction, Rowley replied “yes”, noting however that most of the information came as a result of investigative news reports.
“Having committed ourselves to the Cabo Star and having committed to the Ocean Flower to solve these two ferry requirements, it had been coming to the Government’s attention, initially and largely from the media, which had done some significant investigative work, where there were questions as to the source of the supply of these two vessels,” Rowley said.
“The Government was not unmindful of the concern and had paid attention to some occurrences in the business and the end result of all of that is that the Port Authority had taken certain actions recently, the Government at the level of the Office of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet have taken certain actions and there is some unfinished business with respect to how the procurement process operated when the Government set out to provide the ferry service to Tobago.”
He said while the Cabinet approved the charter agreements of both vessels, he did not know who conducted the negotiations with Bridgemans Services Group, saying those details did not come to the Cabinet nor could he provide any advice to stakeholders on when a passenger vessel for the inter-island service will be sourced, although he admitted it was Government’s intention to purchase a new one.
But in a statement, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad Bissessar said Rowley “has no ideas, and is incapable of dealing with any of the issues facing our country, including the sea bridge fiasco.
“In addition, Rowley continues to shirk his duties as Prime Minister, choosing to go on vacation at every opportunity instead of dealing with this matter with urgency. It is unacceptable given the gravity of the situation and the damage done to citizens and businessmen of Tobago that the Prime Minister could not answer the most basic questions regarding the ferry situation,” she said.
