Former Works and Transport Minister Devant Maharaj is raising questions as to whether the process for securing a passenger ferry for the seabridge has been tainted by political interference.
Maharaj told the T&T Guardian yesterday that he had received information from a confidential source at the Port that in the week of November 24, a recommendation on the selection of a ferry was made to the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (PATT).
The recommendation, he said, was sent to the Government but did not find favour with the political directorate.
His source, he said, has indicated that the ferry would be re-tendered or the evaluation committee would be changed so as to arrive at a selection “acceptable to the political directorate.”
Maharaj is calling on Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan and the PATT to “come clean and clear the air on the selection process for the fast ferry.”
He recalled that at a political meeting on September 22, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar revealed that the specs in the tender had been revised and she had asked then whether that was done “to make it easy for a specific party to secure the tender.”
Maharaj said given what has transpired in the two months since the tenders were opened and the evaluation process started “the allegation of the Leader of the Opposition has to be investigated.”
President of the Inter-Island Truckers Association Horace Amede expressed frustration at the situation.
He said the truckers had received information that the Port had “cancelled the tenders for the fast ferry leaving us in a quandary as to what will happen next.”
Amede said over the past months the problems on the cargo service had been unbearable.
He reported that there have been “oil leaks in the engine room of the Cabo Star.
It is a fire hazard waiting to happen,” he said.
In addition, Amede said, the general air-condition on the vessel is not working and the arrival time of the vessel to Tobago “remains a big issue.”
Fixin T&T President Kirk Waithe is also raising questions as to why there has been a delay in the latest tender for a passenger ferry to service the inter-island seabridge.
The tender was issued in September for the supply of a fast ferry on a two-year time charter, following the cancellation of the contract for the Ocean Flower 2.
Waithe said this tender was promised to be completed within two to three weeks but there has been no word from the Ministry of Works and Transport or the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (PATT) on the matter.
Bridgemans Services Group submitted a tender for the Ocean Flower 2 in the September tender.
Waithe is calling on the Port Authority and the Ministry of Works and Transport to say whether Bridgemans Services Group or any person representing the interest of the Ocean Flower 2 had been allowed to survey and measure the ramps at the Port-of-Spain and Scarborough ports and whether this courtesy was extended to all parties bidding to provide a vessel in response to the last tender.
He said Bridgeman’s Services Group has proven to be “patently unqualified” to provide vessels for the seabridge.
Efforts to contact Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan for comment via phone and WhatsApp yesterday were unsuccessful.
Calls to Port Chairman Alison Lewis’ mobile phone also proved futile.