Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has sent a stern warning to real estate owners that the State will no longer be forking out millions of taxpayers’ money to rent dilapidated buildings.
In fact, Rowley told owners the Government had reached the end of the line and urged businessmen to instead build proper buildings and affordable homes to encourage people to live in the city.
“The people who may find that they have lost the opportunity to rent to State...if your building is substandard then tear it down because the government ain’t coming back there,” Rowley said.
He made the comments after the Ministry of Education Tower was opened yesterday at St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain, one decade after the Government campus was constructed under the former Patrick Manning regime.
Approximately 800 ministry employees were expected to move out of the old St Clair facility and into the tower today.
The staff, Rowley said, was forced to scatter throughout Port-of-Spain, much in “substandard privately owned properties” of which significant rent was dished out. He said as the country progressed so too was the need for more public servants in more locations but public facilities were limited.
“In the city and elsewhere, Government rented from the private sector and generated a business in the private sector where people built largely with an eye on renting to the Government but eventually a decision had to be taken...,” Rowley said.
The PM also called on the business community to provide “reasonable housing” within Port-of-Spain as there was a population depletion in the city. A rethinking of real estate was urgently needed to address that problem, he said, as he the capital must be viewed as a “growing, living economic organism.
“One of the reasons why there is chronic traffic jamming into and out of the city is because there is not enough housing accommodation within the city that is affordable. This has led to people reaching to work late and leaving early to avoid traffic to reach home, resulting in a tremendous loss of productivity.
“But if the city is operating as a city should, having enough or almost enough housing within the city, many of those people who are in those traffic jams in the morning can be in their beds, waking up later, more rested and going off to work feeling most satisfied,” Rowley added.
Instead, he said the city was allowed to become rundown and in some instances there was deliberate action aimed at reducing the functions of the city.
“Because of general neglect or lack of care and other agendas the city has been losing population consistently,” the PM said, adding this was an indication Port-of-Spain was not being properly operated.
Manning lauded
Rowley also lauded former prime minister Patrick Manning’s efforts to make the campus part of a wider scheme to improve the city.
Describing yesterday’s opening as symbolic, Rowley said “100 per cent public support” was not guaranteed for any venture embarked upon by any government.
He drew the example of public criticism levelled against the then government when the Twin Towers was being constructed many years ago, adding that there were some members of the public who had called for it to be abandoned amid claims that one of the towers was leaning.
Many years later, with construction of the Government Campus, Rowley said such buildings like the Twin Towers would save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in rent.
The properties, with its unique tall feature, symbolised the maximum use of land space with several stories, Rowley added.
“The only way you can build on a property like this is up and that is why the buildings are tall....you know it was like, Manning like tall buildings,’ and some people would actually argue that tall buildings have a psychological effect on you,” Rowley said.
He said a new building for the ministry was long overdue as employees housed at the St Clair facility faced the risk of contracting leptospirosis because the building was overrun with rats.
But Rowley warned the management of the new facility to ensure it was properly maintained and that workers give their best to the public. The old building was expected to be torn down but Rowley said no decision has been made as to a replacement.
Education Minister Anthony Garcia, meanwhile, said yesterday’s occasion was one of celebration and joy.
“For sometime now we have been operating in substandard conditions at the head office. Staff worked from truncated hours, some from 8 to 12 and some from 9 to 1,” Garcia said.
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The tower comprises two buildings, including a 16-storey office tower and five-storey secondary building. The combination of glass and steel allows an immense amount of natural light to flow into the tower. The cost of construction of the tower was approximately TT$320 million, VAT exclusive.
Fit-Out, outstanding base building construction works, repairs to mechanical, engineering, plumbing, elevators and escalators cost $175,512,405.91, VAT exclusive.
The total cost of the tower: TT$495,512,405.91, VAT exclusive.