NIDCO gets $1.5B cheque to begin highway to Point Fortin

Works Minister Jack Warner handed over a $1.5 billion cheque on Wednesday to the National Infrastructure Development Company (NIDCO) for the construction of the highway from Golconda to Point Fortin.

NIDCO is responsible for managing the $7.5 billion project, which is the biggest development undertaking in the history of Trinidad and Tobago.

The minister said detractors should note that the People's Partnership government is serious about its work. 

When Warner and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar formally turned the sod for the project on January 25, critics said there would be no money and that the government was engaging in a publicity stunt.

Warner said he hopes the presentation of the cheque would silence those who believed “that we were joking, that it was tomfoolery, garbage and that the work would not go on." 

He added that “tractors are now rolling out” to signal the start of construction, which is being done by the foreign contractor Constructora OAS and sub-contractor Namalco. 

The minister said the government provided the first payment of $1.5 billion from its own resources. 

“We shall look for borrowings inside and outside the country and if we don’t feel to borrow, we pay again from the inside,” Warner said. 

“But the fact is, at no point in time shall be the lack of payment, the lack of finance at any time be a reason for this work not to continue,” he said. 

The highway would pass through several communities in south Trinidad and when completed would have eight interchanges, 18 crossroads and eight bridges. In addition there would be solar lighting along the entire stretch of highway.

“In doing so, we shall transform overnight the entire transportation policy and system in the South and the legacy this Government leaves shall be a legacy of good transportation in south Trinidad which was promised to them for more than 50 years,” he added. 

Warner also noted that 40 per cent of the work would be handled by local firms and he urged those contractors working on the project to contribute to the support of cricket or football in the communities.

He assured residents who will have to move in order to facilitate the construction that they would be fair compensation and that it would be done speedily.