T&T delegation met with Sunway: Manning

Prime Minister Patrick Manning has confirmed that a high-powered Trinidad and Tobago delegation met in Malaysia with the controversial Sunway corporation. He told Parliament UTT president Prof Ken Julien, UDeCOTT executive chairman Calder Hart and Trade Minister Lenny Saith met with Sunway officials “sometime ago."

And he said there was nothing unusual about a meeting he had with Sunway officials recently at his Whitehall office. At that meeting Manning gave the company a commitment to future projects in Trinidad and Tobago.

Manning told the House of Representative, "Whenever companies come to T&T, they normally come under the auspice of a ministry. It is normal in those circumstances that the minister or an official in the ministry would be in contact with the Office of the Prime Minister to ensure that I meet with them and Sunway was no different.”

Responding to a question from Opposition Whip Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj’s on whether Saith, Hart and Julien went to Malaysia to meet with Sunway prior to Manning’s Whitehall meeting the prime minister confirmed that it happened.

But he insisted there were no sweetheart deals and nothing to hide. He explained that one project - Scotts Quarry - was an open contract that attracted bids from four companies and that three bids met the requirement's.

However he said, "Sunway won that bid on the basis of the superior proposal that it put to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago."

He said Sunway's bid was the lowest for the price of aggregate - $85 per metric tonne compared to $146 and $130 from the other companies.

He said Sunway won the contract because it had the lowest bid and because it gave the government a commitment that it could produce at an acceptable level.

He said he got Sunway's agreement on that after the company won the bid "because we talked about a cartel existing in the construction before and what the Government was seeking to do was to break the cartel.”

The Government signed a memorandum of understanding last year which gave Sunway access to the quarry which would generate revenues beyond $540 million and could generate as much as $1.1 billion over the five-year life of the contract.

A Malaysian newspaper had quoted Sunway’s managing director, Yau Kok Seng as saying that his company had a memorandum of understanding with the government of Trinidad and Tobago for more contracts in the country, including construction of highways, hotels and other infrastructural projects.

In his contribution to the budget debate this week former industry minister Keith Rowle asked the Government to reveal “which highways, which hotels, which resorts?”

Rowley also asked what procurement procedures gave Sunway this “inside track.”

The Government has responded to Rowley’s queries.