Kamla: The Finance Minister has ‘absolutely’ discredited himself

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has called for Finance Minister Colm Imbert to step down or be removed from his position in relation to the expenditure and cost overruns attached th the ANR Robinson Airport project.

On Thursday, Imbert told the nation during a Post Cabinet media briefing that the overruns stood at US$2.5 million (TT$16.9 million) and not TT$431 million as the opposition leader previously claimed.

However one day later on Friday, Imbert called a press conference and admitted to additional cost overruns which differ from the figures he provided to reporters on Thursday.  As of now, Imbert said cost is closer to TT$118 million (US$17.5 million) and not US$2.5 million he originally stated.

The press conference came after a leaked Cabinet note began circulating on social media with the figures.

Following this, in a media release, Persad- Bissessar said Imbert was “exposed by his own Cabinet note.”

She said: “Imbert has been exposed by his own cabinet note as either an incompetent or a liar, the public will decide. It seems that he had amnesia at Thursday’s presser but regained his memory by 1pm on Friday.”

“What is also concerning is that every member of the cabinet must have known about these massive cost overruns and design issues, but they all remained quiet and assisted in covering it up from the public,” the opposition leader added.

She further claimed that the note was only approved “last week” therefore it was “impossible” that the finance minister could have misquoted the figures.

“Minister Imbert cannot account for $3 billion of taxpayer’s money; now he has been caught lying about the true status of costs at the Tobago airport terminal. It’s time for Imbert to step down or be removed as Minister of Finance. He has absolutely discredited himself,” Persad-Bissessar said. 

Speaking at a UNC’s cottage meeting at the Las Lomas Government Primary School on December 2, Persad-Bissessar claimed the airport project is now over budget by TT$431 million. The original figure was estimated to be an average of TT$1.287 billion.

“Because of cost overruns thus far of $431.16 million, the project has reached a new cost of $1.718 billion. Look at that building; how does that cost that amount of money? It’s less than half the size of Trincity Mall,” Persad-Bissessar said.