SECRETARY of Infrastructure, Quarries and Urban Development Trevor James has described as “a victory for the THA,” the decision by the Port Authority of T&T and the Trinidad and Tobago Inter-Island Transportation Company, to allow the MV Cabo Star cargo vessel to continue transporting bitumen to Tobago.
On Wednesday, the division issued a press release stating that the bulk shipment of hydrocarbon bitumen used in road works “was now constructed as a breach of the new SOLAS certification on the MV Cabo Star.”
It added, “The certification for the vessel was recently reviewed and upgraded without consultation or communication with the Tobago Hose of Assembly and business on the island.”
The release further said James learnt of the development via a communique from acting Port Authority CEO Vilma Lewis-Cockburn.
The communique, according to the release, said the Cabo Star, which was engaged by the government to transport all cargo between Trinidad and Tobago, was now limiting the shipment of hydrocarbons to 450 litres at a time.
It also said James became aware of the situation when he received a call from a contractor last week Thursday, regarding being denied to ship a large quantity of bitumen to Tobago, of which he was previously permitted.
Alluding to the recent restriction of export aggregate from Tobago, the release quoted James as saying that he believed this development was “another issue in a series of actions that seems to be going in a particular direction.
“What we have is a government who engaged the MV Cabo Star in 2017, and the MV Cabo Star was engaged to move cargo – all cargo– between the islands. This new certification prevents us, prevents anyone from bringing bitumen. We are going to need bitumen to build and to repair the infrastructure consequent to the rains, just as they’re doing in Trinidad.
“You heard the minister (Rohan Sinanan) say that they’re going to take all the TLA (Trinidad Lake Asphalt) from Lake Asphalt to do their repairs. They’ve reached out to us to buy material from SPEL (Studley Park Enterprise Ltd); in the same time, in the same week, the company that runs the inter-island transport, who reports to a minister, is informing us that essentially we, in Tobago, will not be able to bring or they will not be able to ship bitumen to Tobago on the vessel (in bulk).”
On Friday, Sinanan held a news conference at which the decision to prevent the Cabo Star from transporting large quantities of bitumen was rescinded.
James, in a video release on Friday, said, “From the division, from the THA, we see this as a victory for the THA. We were alerted of this issue arising. It is clear from the media release and from the press conference today that the Port Authority along with the Trinidad and Tobago Inter-island Transportation Company, that it was my report then that alerted them of the fact that a key stakeholder in Tobago, road construction, was being prevented from shipping bitumen to Tobago.”
Were it not for the THA’s public intervention, James said, the issue w
