Legislation to amend the Motor Vehicle Insurance (Third-Party Risks) Act, the Libel and Defamation Act and the Bail Act are listed for debate in the House of Representatives this afternoon. The sitting begins at 1.30 and there are six questions listed on the Order Paper for oral answer. Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley has asked three of the six questions and Point Fortin MP Paula Gopee-Scoon the other three.
Rowley wants the Minister of Finance and the Economy Larry Howai to say what was the total budgeted cost for the Solomon Hochoy highway extension project from San Fernando to Point Fortin. The Government has said previously that the project was to cost $7 billion. In another question Rowley wants Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to say how many Cabinet meetings she has not chaired and the dates and venues Cabinet meetings were held other than at the Cabinet office.
Rowley’s third question is to Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan. He wants to know if the minister was aware of a natural disaster threat which may be associated with the chosen location for the construction of the Children’s Hospital in Couva.
The T&T Guardian reported in September that an academic at the University of the West Indies, Lloyd Lynch, had expressed fears that the design of the $1.5 billion hospital may be inadequate to withstand a major earthquake along the Central Range Fault (CRF), which is mere kilometres from the Preysal site. Lynch, a senior research fellow in instrumentation at the UWI Seismic Research Centre (SRC), says seismic hazard maps used in the geotechnical report on the site did not include new information about the active fault line.
This claim was dismissed by the Urban Development Corporation of T&T (Udecott).