Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal has finally given up his $.8 million Housing Development Corporation-leased Range Rover SUV. He did not indicate what type of vehicle he was now using, but yesterday he was driving a Toyota Hilux pickup, which he said was being used on the UNC’s by-election campaign trail. Speaking outside Centre Point Mall, Chaguanas, Moonilal said the Range Rover, which was leased by the HDC, has been “parked up and is not being used by him because of security reasons.”
He said the vehicle remains with the HDC and may be used by other officials as its lease expires in 2014. However, he told reporters that it was time to move on and leave the Range Rover issue behind. “The vehicle is not being used,” Moonilal said. “It is parked up I believe, somewhere, but I am not using the vehicle because of the security situation now. “There were a lot of people assembling by the vehicle in Port-of-Spain and it created a bit of an inconvenience and a problem for us when we were moving and so on.”
He added, “I have no further comment to make on that. We have to move on, so that is behind us,” Moonilal said. Asked if he still planned to meet with the T&T Guardian management so they could advise on which vehicle he should use, as he had indicated recently, Moonilal said he was referring to the HDC’s management. On July 1, during the installation of the HDC board at San Fernando, Moonilal told reporters that he took note of the reports and asked the HDC to take back the vehicle.
He said, “I have asked them to contact the Guardian and ask them to recommend a vehicle for me because they have interviewed some unknown mechanic who made some comments about the vehicle, so we are asking the Guardian to recommend an appropriate vehicle for me to use.” But yesterday, he said, “That was the board of directors of the HDC because they have to look at all these leasings. I'm not involved in that type of thing.
“The HDC over the years, has been the habit. They provided some transport support for ministers.” He said the HDC had also purchased two vehicles for former Housing Minister Dr. Emily Gaynor Dick Forde and her junior minister Tina Gronlund-Nunez during the People’s National Movement (PNM) administration. “They had purchased vehicles and when I came into office the HDC provided me with the same support that they provided for former ministers. Nothing more, nothing less.”
As for the Toyota Hilux, Moonilal said the vehicle was privately owned and only being used on the Chaguanas West campaign trail. “This is a vehicle we are using only for our campaign and so on; it is a private vehicle. On the campaign we do not use Government vehicles and so on. “Those vehicles we use of the state are for conducting the business of the Government. We are not conducting the business of the Government now, we are conducting a campaign so we use private vehicles for that.”