00:00For years, aging water infrastructure has been blamed for burst WASA mains, sinkholes and disruptions across Trinidad and Tobago.
00:08Public Utilities Minister Barry Podaratha says much of WASA's infrastructure dates back decades and requires significant investment.
00:16He says the government has now completed an assessment of the authorities' facilities and is preparing to move ahead with
00:22major works.
00:23As you know, the former administration had taken a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank, and this loan never
00:32was really used in the way it was meant to be used in terms of changing all the infrastructure and
00:37so on.
00:38And having used this year in particular to look at the scope, look at the water treatment facilities that needs
00:44upgrade, we are now in a position where we are ready to action.
00:48A key part of that plan is the use of financing from the Inter-American Development Bank.
00:54Podaratha says there are two IDB loans totaling more than 120 million U.S. dollars and says accessing the money
01:02depends on satisfying conditions attached to the financing.
01:05There were two IDB loans that were taken by the former administration for the purposes of WASA.
01:13That totals in the amount of over 120 million U.S. dollars and this is not a loan that was
01:20recently acquired.
01:21This loan was acquired at least about four to five years ago.
01:26Obviously, the loan comes with conditionalities and therefore you have to be able to satisfy those conditionalities in order to
01:33access the loan.
01:34I think that has been part of the challenge with the former administration not being able to do as much
01:41as they should have done, but it really requires an aggressive approach.
01:47Podaratha says the government has been working more closely with the IDB and other ministries to address the requirements attached
01:54to the financing, but he says the previous administration also failed to make the institutional changes necessary to get the
02:01projects moving.
02:03He specifically criticized the former public utilities minister, Marvin Gonzalez.
02:07One of the things that I always criticized the former minister of public utilities, Marvin Gonzalez for, was the fact
02:14that he always took a very hands-off approach to the public utilities companies, particularly WASA, TSTT.
02:21You have to know what is going on inside of those companies, find out what are the stumbling blocks.
02:26And a lot of what did not happen during the 2020 to 2025 period was because you needed institutional changes
02:35inside of there to facilitate the use of the loan money in order to get the projects up and running.
02:40The minister says the work will not happen all at once.
02:44Instead, treatment plants and water mains will be addressed in phases following the 2027 budget.
02:50Charlotte Histo, TV6 News.
