Speaking with reporters shortly after arriving home from her visit to New York, Persad-Bissessar said the reverse is the case - BAE owes the government about $61 million in damages. That's the money that the government invested in the project over the past few years.
She said in addition, BAE will have to refund the TT$1.5 billion for vessels for failure to deliver them on time.
The Prime Minister was responding to suggestions that the Trinidad and Tobago government owes BAE nearly TT$3 billion, which includes the cost of construction of the three vessels and cost overruns.
"There are stories that I have been reading that we owe BAE money and we breached the contract. No, that is not the case at all. I am advised that BAE is in breach of the contract because of two reasons.
"They (BAE) are in breach because of delay, which was the most substantial cause we have to termination of the contract, but they are also in breach because they have not been able to comply with the specs that had been contracted for," she said.
BAE has confirmed that it was received written notice from the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago that it is cancelling the order for the OPVs, adding that the company is seeking to "engage in commercial discussions with GORTT and hope to reach an equitable settlement."
Persad-Bissessar said the government decided to scrap then project "after careful analysis of the project and the substantial breaches in contract by BAE". She also said the government did not think the OPVs could assist in the fight against crime.
She explained that her Government could not make a public statement on the matter because of a non-disclosure clause in the contract that prevented such information being made public.
She told reporters government officials will meet with BAE. However she insisted that the government is firm in its decision to scrap the contract.
"There are several things that we had to consider. Do we need three OPVs? The country is not at war out in the seas; the country is at war on the ground, in our streets and in the towns within Trinidad and Tobago.
"The cost to maintain the vessels would have cost taxpayers in excess of $500 million annually. Our country cannot sustain that at this time," she said.
Persad-Bissessar stated that her government has better things to do with the money that would have to be invested in the boats.
"We feel that we could better spend that money right here on the ground to fight crime, to pay police officers more money, pay the Defence Force more money, to pay the prisons officers more. To get equipment and, of course, food and hospitals beds," the PM said.
She her government is not scrapping all contracts made by the previous administration. She will honour the $2.3 billion deal for four Agusta Westland AW139 twin-turbine helicopters for search-and-rescue, surface surveillance, law enforcement, drug interdiction and disaster relief operations.
Read the story:Manning gov't buying 4 helicopters for TT$2.3 billion
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