WASA sub-committee asks for extension to review report

An extension has been sought by the Cabinet sub-committee tasked with looking into the operations of the Water and Sewerage Authority – WASA.

Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales said the report was due to be handed over to the Prime Minister yesterday, the committee still wished to meet to discuss their findings.

“Yes today is the deadline, the report is completed. It is actually being reviewed. I got up 2 O’clock this morning reviewing the report, doing a final review. The cabinet sub-committee hopefully by the end of this week we will sit, we will look at the recommendations, look at the findings. We will agree on the set of recommendations to be made to the cabinet,” said Gonzales during a tour of the Cove Power Station in Tobago, yesterday.

“I have asked the Prime Minister for a one-week extension to allow for that in-depth deliberation to take place among ourselves and that by next week the report with its recommendations will be submitted to cabinet for its consideration and those issues that I highlighted are in the report,” said Gonzales.

He once again harped on his opinion that the efficiency of WASA had to be improved.

The minister also reiterated the point that WASA failed to be profitable whilst subject to one of the cheapest tariffs concerning water in the world and to date WASA was still owed significant amounts of money from customers

The report is expected to address if water rates in Trinidad and Tobago should be adjusted, which the minister also hinted at during the budget presentation.