Several ministries, including Tertiary Education, Housing, National Security and Health will not face any cuts in expenditure as Government begins restructuring its budget following a drastic decline of global energy prices.
Although calls have been made by Independent Senator Helen Drayton to abandon the proposed $41 million constituency fund, there has been no official word on whether this will be done. However, major subsidies including the Government Assistance Tertiary Education (GATE), will continue. A government source revealed over the past two days, ministers have been meeting to discuss expenditure cuts.
Some of the areas where cuts will be made is expected to be disclosed today at the weekly post-Cabinet briefing. In an interview yesterday, Minister of Works Dr Suruj Rambachan confirmed he has already started rescheduling construction projects which fall under his purview. He reiterated that those projects were not being abandoned but were being “rescheduled and re-prioritised.”
“One of the things we are doing at my ministry is we are adjusting the projects. All of these projects are important and we will keep the construction sector going. “We have quite a number of jobs coming out of these projects so we have to keep the retail construction sector going,” Rambachan said.
Asked whether he intended to reduce expenditure by cracking down on inflated contracts, Rambachan said: “We have dealt with that. Contractors do measured work which are done at market rates and open tendering projects so we have curtailed inflated contracts considerably.” He said some projects, including the coastal erosion project at Mosquito Creek and several box drains along the Beetham Highway will go on.
However, he said other construction projects would be rescheduled after consultations. Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal also said major projects under his ministry would continue. These include construction of the Couva Children’s hospital, the University of the West Indies south law campus in Debe and several housing estates. However he said further scheduled upgrades for the Brian Lara stadium would be put on hold.
Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan said there would be no expenditure cuts to his ministry and major projects such as the Point Fortin Area hospital will continue.