Dookeran: PNM ignored entrepreneurship in development model

Finance Minister Winston Dookeran said Sunday the previous Manning PNM administration in Trinidad and Tobago ignored the entrepreneurship factor in its development plans for the country.

"The last government missed it all together when they went on with their enclaved development all over the place," Dookeran said in an address to members of his Congress of the People (COP) at the party's operational centre in Charlieville, Chagunas.

"The country was having all sorts of development but people were not becoming entrepreneurs," he said.

He added that a lot of the measures in the $49 billion budget he presented in Parliament last Wednesday were aimed at creating a new entrepreneurial class "because we felt entrepreneurship was the missing link in the development framework of Trinidad and Tobago over the last 30 years."

Dookeran said he is hoping that through a consultation process citizens will come up with the "necessary ideas and embrace the opportunities".

Dookeran also addressed another bughdetary issue - the minimum wage, which he said oN Wednesday is "under consideration" without saying if or when it would be increased from its present $9 an hour.

He made it clear that there is no rift between Government and the labour movement on the issue. Some trade unions want the minimum wage to be increased to $20 an hour.

He told reporters there are many issues involving any increase to the minimum wage and these matters remain under “active consideration”.

Dookeran insisted that the People's Partnership in committed to workers and noted that government is moving to settle public service wage negotiations and provide other assistance to workers such as non-cash measures in the form of medical care.

Energy Minister Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, who is a COP member, was also at the COP meeting and she spoke with reporters about the scrapping of the Alutrint aluminium smelter in La Brea.

On Saturday the PNM criticised the decision, stating that it would affect the country's internaational image and send negative signals to potential investors.

Seepersad-Bachan said the government will consider alternative industrial use for the port and storage handling facilities originally designated for the smelter.

In addition, she said T&TEC will be using 250 megawatts of electricity from the power plant which was supposed to provide electricity for the smelter, will be operational by the end of the year.

She told reporters she will have more to say on the matter in Parliament when she addresses issues raised by opposition leader Dr Keith Rowley.

Rowley question, which was presented before the budget announcement asked specifically:

• whether the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has taken or intends to take a decision to stop the Aluminium Smelter Project
• If the answer is in the affirmative, could the Minister state when was this decision taken and give the details of the decision

Rowley also wants to know:

1. what contracts and other agreements will be affected by the decision
2. the total estimated financial costs to be incurred by the Government as a result of any cessation of the Smelter Project
3. how the Government proposes to treat with the loss of employment opportunities which will flow from the closure of the project

The budget debate begins Tuesday, with Rowley making his official response, beginning at 10 in the morning.