THE Prime Minister has said the Port of Port of Spain has been authorised to "proceed to invite interested parties (private operators) sometime in the not too distant future."

Dr Rowley was responding to questions in Parliament on Wednesday morning.

In October 2020, Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan said a committee would be established to look at the port's public-private partnership.

He had said the committee would be headed by Public Administration and Digital Transformation Minister Allyson West and will comprise the Works Ministry, Trade Ministry, Finance Ministry, business chamber representatives and trade unions.

He said, “And they will sit down and decide what is the best model for the port.

"Once that is established then you go out for an expression of interest and then you see who comes forward and then you determine who is the best partner to work with."

He also said the proposal was to have three companies: one for land management of the port; one for inter-island ferry service; and one for port cargo operations.

Recently, West said a report was submitted to Cabinet.

Asked for an update, Rowley said the committee has five sub-committees responsible for reviewing the organisational structure, providing a strength and weakness analysis, reviewing top-performing ports, benchmarking public-private partnerships and creating a roadmap design.

"Work had continued on that, and widespread stakeholder consultations have gone on with the Port Authority, Customs and Excise Division of the Ministry of Finance, the Immigration Division of the Ministry of National Security, the Seamen and Waterfront Workers Trade Union, the Trinidad and Tobago Pilots Association, Hauliers Association, Manufacturers Association, Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Bureau of Standards, Customs Clerk and Customs Brokers Associations, the shipping lines..."

He said the committee has been working with presentations from the Inter-American Development Bank, European Business Chamber of TT and the Andean Bank.

"These works have continued, they are close to completion," he said. "The work has been considerably advanced."