Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon is confirming that the much maligned Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba will be completed.
However, she was unable to give a similar commitment to questions posed by the Penal/Debe chamber president Shiva Roopnarine as to when the denominational colleges in Penal, Shiva Boys’ and Parbatee Girls’, the UWI South Campus, the sporting complex, fire station and highway project will be completed.
Addressing an economic forum hosted by the chamber at FunSplash, Debe, last week, Gopee-Scoon said that completing the stadium, which was earmarked for completion in time for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, does not constitute a waste of money.
Sport Minister Darryl Smith and Lara visited the site in November 2015 and promised it would be opened by mid-2016.
Gopee-Scoon was responding to a question from the floor as to whether the Government “was going to waste money to finish the Brian Lara Stadium.”
She said, “I don’t know it is considered to be a waste of money to finish the Brian Lara Stadium. Finishing the stadium means something to a considerable portion of the people of T&T, sports enthusiasts and sports lovers as well.”
She said considerable sums have already been invested and not much will be required for completion, which should have been done over the last five years when energy prices were much higher. Smith said they were working with a $90 million budget.
“So it is not a question of wasting money. It is, in fact, finishing a project that is required by the vast majority of the population and there has been a commitment by the Government to complete it so it is not a waste of funds at all.”
Former Planning minister Dr Bhoe Tewarie, who was also a member of the panel discussing the economic situation, differed with the minister’s position.
Tewarie said, “I think if you have to make a choice between Brian Lara Stadium, given where it was and where you are trying to take it, and with other options in a situation of tight revenues, of very, very challenging options, I would not spend the money on the stadium.”
Roopnarine said the course this Government charts now will have a significant impact on all future generations.
“Once again, days before the mid-year budget review, we are at the point where prudent fiscal management is required and all of our resources need to be utilised effectively and efficiently.”
Roopnarine told the minister, “The electoral boundaries that separate us should not be the line that divides us.”