PM: No plans to extend State of Emergency, curfew

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Renuka Singh

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said yesterday there are no plans for a second extension to the current State of Emergency (SoE).

The curfew was already extended once and officially lifts at the end of this month.

The Prime Minister returned from his first overseas trip since the country went into lockdown last year.

He attended the COP26 summit in Glasgow and was in the United Kingdom for energy discussions.

Dr Rowley returned to the country last night and gave an update of his trip to the media and the public.

“The State of Emergency comes to an end at the end of this month and no I don’t have any intention of asking the Parliament to extend it,” he said in response to questions from the media.

The curfew, he said, arises out of the State of Emergency and once the SoE ends the curfew goes with it.

“I think by now we would have gotten into a routine and I think by now the population should be able to cope and to do what needs to be done because this is no longer a short-term situation,” he said.

“This situation that we are in, we are in it for the long haul,” Rowley said.

The Prime Minister said that he did not have to wear a mask while in Glasgow.

“I think the UK Government as a matter of policy determined that COVID is endemic and therefore the population is being asked to accept that it is going to be with us, but the UK is very heavily vaccinated,” he said.

With regards to the energy meetings in the UK, Rowley said that on November 17, Shell and the Government would sign off on the amended Product Sharing Contract to access the 27 per cent of the Manatee field that belongs to T&T.

The Prime Minister said that while the COP26 summit sought ways to move away from hydrocarbons, the reality is that T&T is a gas producer. He said that the drive to move away from traditional fossil fuels like coal means that the market for gas has widened.

Rowley said that he was supposed to meet with the Emir of Qatar to further discuss the continuation of gas supply on the international market but that meeting was postponed to next year.

The Prime Minister also said that as he now had to enforce the point that gas was cleaner than traditional fossil fuels.

“It is a fact that gas is cleaner than coal and oil. The trouble is that if you take the position that all hydrocarbons should be out of the market because you are damaging the atmosphere then we have to say that that is not feasible. If you are going to stop using coal then you have to use more gas,” Rowley said.

“So right now, in dealing with the coal problem, the market for gas is the better option and fortunately for us, we are on the gas side of supply,” he said.