Food Production Minister Devant Maharaj says the Estate Management and Business Development Company (EMBD) spent more than $2 billion on PVC pipes for proposed housing lots for former Caroni workers in central Trinidad. In a statement yesterday, Maharaj said there was no proper or approved infrastructure on the agricultural or residential estates.
He said what appeared to be infrastructure works on the residential sites “were nothing more than PVC pipes sticking out of the ground and pretending to be leading to a sewerage and waste water facility underground.” Maharaj said when checks were made “there was nothing underground.” He said there were sites where paved roads and concrete drains were built but two cars could not pass on the said roads.
He said there were underground corridors built with water lines and electrical lines for water and electricity in the same corridor. Maharaj said the PP Government was taking steps to remedy the defective work. He said within the next few weeks the distribution of agricultural and residential leases would begin. The minister said by the end of the year about 6,000 residential and agricultural leases would have been delivered.
Maharaj said in 2010 the EMBD had a debt of $4 billion. He said in the months before the PNM was voted out of governance contracts amounting to more than $200 million were awarded without proper tendering process. He said on assuming office later that year, the PP Government found no documentation to the expenditure.