Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said Monday night her government does not have any more money to sink into a "black hole" created from the multibillion-dollar contract to acquire three Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs).Speaking with reporters on her return home from a 10-day foreign trip, Persad-Bissessar said the state has already invtested "too much" on the vessels and Cabinet will now have to consider whether to cut its losses.
"So much money has been spent on these vessels, the vessels are not ready for delivery. My information is that they are defective in many ways and will not be able to be delivered.
"I do recall they have been promised and promised, every month it was two months and then three months and there was always shifting all the time as to delivery dates," she said.
"That's the position. It is not that we do not want the security system on our shores whether it be St Vincent, whether it be Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, which would help in the whole region.
"We would like that to happen, but the arrangements that were in place are certainly not working and decisions will have to be taken as to how we will proceed, as to what has become a black hole."
She said the government have received the various reports on the status of the vessels "so we are reviewing...The Minister of National Security, myself and others and the Cabinet will have to take a decision as to the way forward." P
She suggested that the suppliers might have to "pay us some money." she explained that there is the issues of a breach of contract.
"If we had a contract and you agreed to deliver by X date and X date has come and you say Y, P and Q and you reach B and C and we still can't get it then some kind of liquidated damages will have to be paid for that breach of contract in terms of delivery," she said.
"There's a decision we have to take as to whether we take our liquidated damages and run or give them some more time."
The Manning government signed a £150 million contract in April 2007 with VT Shipbuilding to build and commission the vessels. VT is now called BVT Surface Fleet, following a merger with BAE System.
It awarded the US$348M helicopter contract to AgustaWestland, a subsidiary of the Italian defence and aerospace company Inmeccanica.
The first vessels were supposed to be delivered since last year.
Security adviser to the Prime Minister, Captain Gary Griffith, told the Express newspaper on Sunday the delay in the delivery of the vessels together with four helicopter gunships could cost taxpayers more than $5 billion that was already budgeted.
Read the story: Gov't might cancel $5B contracts for patrol boats, helicopters
Sixty five coast guard personnel who are in England for training are returning home by next week.
The sailors have been undergoing training to operate the OPV's but they have been recalled while government reviews the status of the vessels. Sea trials planned for vessels have also put been stopped.
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