....soca boat...

I hope we all survived the deluge. I thought that Tobago would have got the brunt of it based on the weather data but it seems that once again Tobago was spared but from the pictures being shown north Trinidad took some licks, including my Maraval.

So many things happening today in the twin island state, meeting between the PMOTT and the LOTO - is no news good news? the 'Don' passing north of us - hope Grenada and St Vincent are OK, bacchanal on the airbridge - hope it's sorted by Thursday, CLF stories continue - will we ever know the truth, with an unprecedented crime wave and we cannot get the scanners working at the ports of entry -  yet the US authorities insist on new, more stringent airport security checks on flights into the US and that's not a problem.

Both replacement Tobago ferries are heading to Trinidad. The Cabo Star, the cargo ferry, has past Curacao and traveling at 15.6 knots should be here anytime now. The passenger ferry, Ocean Flower 2 has left the Alaskan port and is making her way down the west coast of the USA. 
I am putting on the blog today a contribution made by the Member of Parliament for Diego Martin West, then LOTO, in May of 2014. This was in connection with the issue of the Tobago cargo ferry, the Superfast Galicia.    


Dr. K. Rowley: Mr. Speaker, it appears as though we are not concerned about any restriction in expenditure because when something happens, one expects that we learn from it, especially if you make a big deal out of it. [Continuous crosstalk] We sat in this House before and heard a lot from the Government about the MV Su.
Mr. Speaker: Please, please, no crosstalk between north and the Member for D’Abadie/O’Meara, please.
Dr. K. Rowley: We heard a lot about the MV Su where, when we initiated the Water Taxi Service, we bought certain vessels, one of which was called the MV Su. When it came to Trinidad and Tobago, it was discovered that it had engine problems and the problems were more serious than they thought, and the boat was parked up in Chaguaramas for a while and could not be put in service. And the expense of repairing it turned out to be an embarrassment and eventually this Government sold it as scrap, and that became a big thing here, and this Government actually raised the MV Su so often that one of its Members became known as “Su”, [Laughter] and one would have thought that we, as a people, would have learnt from that.
So, last Easter, I wanted to go to Tobago and I was very happy to hear the Minister of Tourism, at the time—or is it transport? You cannot keep pace with the Ministers where they are these days. But the Member for Chaguanas East, in whatever portfolio he was, just before Easter, indicated quite confidently, welcomed news, that this new vessel, a larger one, with improved capacity and so on—the Galecia—was arriving here at a particular time, and in time to take people to Tobago for jazz weekend and so on. Like
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myself and others, we kind of said, “Well, great, because Tobago, here I come”. And then the days and the weeks passed, and there was no boat for jazz, there was no boat for Tobago, and I asked the Minister, later on, what has happened with the boat that was supposed to come in, and then he told me it is coming on a particular day and so on and so on. No problem, sometimes you do not keep deadlines and you do not—but I was surprised that when the boat did not show up for Easter—[Interruption]
4.15 p.m.
Dr. K. Rowley: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was saying, so the boat did not turn up and then I asked about it and I was told that it was going to be here at a later date, and so on. But now, I am seeing in this document that we are spending, what is being asked for this, $51 million for a boat that they contracted since April. So it means that we are incurring expenses since April for this boat that did not turn up, which has since turned up and, strangely enough, like the Su, it is hidden somewhere in my constituency.
Because, Mr. Speaker, I am now discovering that we bought a boat with no place to bring it into port.
Mr. Deyalsingh: A new boat?
Dr. K. Rowley: Yes. I am advised that the boat that we bought was bought without proper consultation with the harbour master, not bought, I think it is leased. Now that the boat is here, it can come into port in Scarborough, because Scarborough has the facility, but it cannot be brought into port in Port of Spain because there is no facility in Port of Spain to bring it into, until certain serious infrastructural works are done. So we are paying April, May, June, US $11⁄2 million a month for a boat that we cannot use. And I am asking myself: did we learn anything from the Su, or is it that
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every time something is done you say the PNM do that too? We have a boat now which we are paying US $11⁄2 million a month for and it cannot pick up anybody in Port of Spain because it cannot be brought to the port in Port of Spain to take up anybody. I am saying, how could this happen? Because these were the same people who made a story, a song and a dance about the purchase of the Su.
At least with the Su you could say you had experts involved but the expert advice was not satisfactory or it turned out to be what it was. In this case, I am told that the relevant authorities in the Port of Port of Spain were not part of this arrangement. I was told that they were not—and the next thing you know whoever did it, bought a boat that cannot be used. So we now need $51 million for infrastructural work so as to allow this boat to come to be used on the Tobago to Trinidad arrangement. Who is responsible for that?
How did this happen? And in the meantime, and you see it is joke you know. For them it is a big joke. As far as they are concerned, it is a big joke. We are so wealthy in this country that $51 million is no big thing, $34 million is no big thing. Right? They could tell us—on a $6 million programme—somebody got $34 million for delivering nothing and nobody is interested to find out who and under what circumstances. And when we are told that there is criminal conduct they laugh at us.
But let me say something, Mr. Speaker, before we go, and I am saying this for Members of my colleagues on both sides of this House. I have been here before you all and I know a little bit more than you do. So when you hear government programmes are associated with criminal conduct, it is not something to laugh about. It is not something to take lightly. It is not
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something to be dismissed. It is something to take very seriously, because the reality of it is such that the truth of that should be of concern to everybody in Trinidad and Tobago.

End.

Part of the presentation does not involve the ferry service but it says a lot of where the then LOTO's thinking was. 
There are errors of course in the information being put in the public space. 

The lease on the Superfast Galicia was actually $425,000 USD per month and not the $1,500,000.00 USD as stated by the member. The replacement vessel, the MV Cabo Star contracted by the current administration is actually $760,000.00 USD per month.
The Superfast Galicia was a 13 year old vessel which passed all the statutory inspections and surveys. The replacement vessel contracted by the current administration is 29 yrs old and can hold 12 passengers. This means that truckers will not be able to travel with their vehicles, no one has told the truckers that as yet. The Superfast Galicia provided for 120 passengers.
The work at the docking facilities at the Tobago terminal had to be done regardless of the Superfast Galicia.

The MV Su and the other two vessels bought by the previous administration, under the watchful eye of the current Minister of Finance, are still moored at the Coast Guard facilities at both Staubles and Harts Cut. Tens of millions of dollars were spent and wasted. These vessels never sailed one single day. Fact, the MV Su was towed by a tug from a dockyard in Curacao, after spending $50.0 M, and only when it reached the Bocas did they start the one engine that worked, to show that it could actually sail under its own power. It never sailed after that. 

I am not really into 'him say dem say' but the truth and the facts have to be presented in and out of the Parliament. The current administration, regardless of what was being said whilst in opposition, has totally screwed up a perfectly good working ferry service and has to be held responsible for its failings. The PMOTT is the person who made all the decisions and now should come back to the Parliament and make another speech.

I rest my case! What we accept as governance has to be done away with, the nonsense from all sides continues. The time is now for a change in how we do our business. 

The rain has started again, but no wind. 

".........ah doh want to sink that soca boat...."
Shadow