T&T not paying expenses for all CHOGM delegates

The Government of Trinidad and Tobago will not be paying the expenses of all delegates attending the November Commonwealth head of Government Meeting (CHOGM). Junior Finance Minister Mariano Browne gave that assurance Tuesday in response to a question from opposition Senator Wade Mark.

"The country is only responsible for the head of State and only two or three people after that. Nothing more," he said.

Browne explained that the same arrangement was in place for the Summit of the Americas in April. He said Trinidad and Tobago paid the bills of the 120 people for three of four days.

"At most it won't be more than four people so that we would be responsible for a total of 216 people at best in terms of accommodation. But we have to make certain that our accommodation is available to engage all the people that are likely to come," Browne said.

The Americas summit included costs for vehicles and the charter of two cruise ships. The cost of the ships alone was $120 million and the special vehicles cost the same amount. tens of millions were also invested in infrastructure upgrading, including work at the old terminal at Piarco International Airport.

Read the story: PM says summit cost TT$350M so far...

The final figure for the first international summit was closer to $1 billion although then government has allocated $630 million for both gatherings.

Mark charged that the Government is about to spend "another $1.5 billion" to stage CHOGM.

"It might be too late to turn back. But let these fellas help you. Let the heads who are coming here pay for their own hotel accommodation so that we can put some money towards building roads, providing water, hospital, hiring more police officers," he said.