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BY
JUHEL BROWNE
Government intends to purchase both a fast ferry and a conventional
ferry for the seabridge, a senior Tobago House of Assembly
official said yesterday.
Tobago House of Assembly tourism and transportation secretary
Neil Wilson said Cabinet may also have selected a bidder for
the provision of the fast ferry which is expected to cost
about $300 million.
Both the Government and the THA have been criticised for the
approximately three-year delay in the acquisition of a new
ferry for the seabridge.
Speaking from Tobago, Wilson said the transaction was delayed
further because the Government and the THA have been ironing
out a lease to test drive a duplicate vessel before actually
making the purchase.
“We
have said we wanted to get a lease arrangement for approximately
six months, eight months or even a year to put the boat on
the route and see if it complies before we purchase,”
Wilson said.
“They
(bidders) wanted to tie the Government to a lease of seven
years.”
Wilson reiterated a statement made by THA Chief Secretary
Orville London in February that the Assembly does not want
to waste $300 million of the taxpayers money on a bad investment.
Wilson said the bidders have since come back with “a
more palatable proposal” but gave no further details.
He said once the THA was satisfied with the fast ferry it
was leasing on a trail basis, it would acquire an identical
vessel with the same specifications.
On TV6’s Morning Edition broadcast on Monday, THA Assemblyman
Cecil Caruth said the Assembly could have purchased a new
ferry years ago at a cost of about $84 million, and saw no
need for taxpayers to spend $300 million.
Yesterday, Wilson explained Caruth was referring to a conventional
inter-island ferry like the MV Beauport which Government was
also seeking to acquire in addition to a fast ferry.
Wilson said instead of buying a fast ferry and continuing
to lease the Beauport, Government would probably “relinqush
the lease on that and most likely sell the Panorama.”
The UNC Government first proposed the sale of the MV Tobago
and then leased the Beauport for about $4 million a month
in 2001.
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