Kamla: Account for 'mystery' $400m

■ Anna Ramdass

anna.ramdass@trinidadexpress.com

OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has challenged Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to give an account for the 'mysterious' $400 million allocated to the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) in the 2025 budget.

She insisted that this money is to be used for electioneering. The former prime minister criticised the vagueness of the allocation in the budgetary documents, saying they are for 'ghost buildings' under the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT). She called a news conference yesterday at her Port of Spain office to debunk claims by Rowley that this money allocated under the OPM is to pay for UDeCOTT projects and that the state enterprise had not been paid in six years.

Armed with the budgetary Draft Estimates, Persad-Bissessar provided what she said was 'evidence' to show that UDeCOTT projects, which the Prime Minister said had to be paid for, were already paid for or allocated funds by other respective ministries.

She claimed: 'This $400 million is for elections and not construction of buildings and definitely not for UDeCOTT payments...I call on the Prime Minister to account for this mysterious $400 million allocation. These are ghost buildings that have been allocated $400 million,' she said.

She insisted that everything she said on Friday during her reply to the national budget was 'truthful' and can be verified.

Unnamed buildings

Persad-Bissessar pointed out that on page 187 of the 2025 draft estimates of the development programme, under the Office of the Prime Minister, it states that $400 million is allocated for the 'construction of buildings'but there is no description or names of the buildings. She noted that the Prime Minister, in defending the allocation, said that the $400 million was to pay for UDeCOTT projects such as the Port of Spain General Hospital Central Block, refurbishment of the Magnificent Seven, the Red House, President's House, etc. Persad-Bissessar said that the Draft Estimates Development Programme for 2025 document shows that monies have already been allocated to pay for many of these projects under the heads of various ministries, and that payments have been made consistently for these projects over the years.

She quoted from the Draft Estimates Development Programme for 2025 to show the funding provided for several projects.

Persad-Bissessar questioned whether both the OPM and the Health Ministry are paying for the same project.

She said that the document shows that an allocation of $75 million for 2025 was provided under the Health Ministry.

'That will be known as double dipping, if we believe Mr Rowley,' she added.

She said the actual Central Block expenditure from 2016, paid for by the Health Ministry, totals $324.6 million. According to Persad-Bissessar, an additional allocation of $162.47m in 2024 means that approximately $486.8 million has been allocated between 2016 and 2024 on the Central Block, with a further $75 million allocated in 2025 under the Health Ministry-not the OPM.

She further quoted from the Draft Estimates for the UDeCOTT's construction of the Health Administrative Building where the record shows that $31.99 million was allocated to the Health Ministry for this project. She noted that the Health Ministry was allocated funds to pay UDeCOTT for the construction of the Sangre Grande Hospital, the Arima Hospital and the Point Fortin Hospital-not the OPM.

She said the Draft Estimates (page 232) further states that improvement to the Emperor Valley Zoo by UDeCOTT was funded by the Agriculture Ministry.

EBC headquarters

Persad-Bissessar said the evidence further shows that monies were allocated under the head of the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC), and not OPM, for the construction of a new EBC head office.

She said this is the same for the Ministry of Social Development head office where $35 million was allocated under the line ministry for this UDeCOTT Project and not the OPM.

Persad-Bissessar said under the Ministry of Sport and Community Development numerous UDeCOTT projects were financed with some $450 million allocated for the years 2023-2025. Under the Tourism Ministry, she said money was allocated for refurbishment works for the 'Magnificent Seven' buildings and the construction of the Pan Trinbago headquarters.

She said in reality, the expenditure for the period 20152023 on the 'Magnificent Seven' buildings was $217.7 million under the Tourism Ministry and not the OPM.

Persad-Bissessar said she can provide more details which would prove the point that funds were allocated under different ministries, and also show that payments have been consistently made every year to UDeCOTT.

She further took Rowley to task on the figures with respect to borrowing. She said Rowley claims his Government borrowed $60 billion, when the facts from the Central Bank and the Government's own figures show that by the end of 2025, it will have borrowed $119.88 billion-twice the amount that he is claiming. Persad-Bissessar noted that under the OPM, some $890,000 combined were allocated for parties and events in 2023 and 2024.

However, she reiterated that in 2025, an election year, a 'whopping' $50 million is allocated, an increase of $49.11 million.

She asked the Prime Minister was able to host functions in fiscal 2024 when the allocation was $890,000.

DOCUMENT IN HAND: Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar displays a document during yesterday's press conference at her Charles Street, Port of Spain office. -Photo: JERMAINE CRUICKSHANK