Government spent $2.26 billion to build and complete 6,999 houses all over T&T between 2010 and 2014, PP Senate leader Ganga Singh said yesterday.
Replying to an Opposition question in the Senate, Singh said some houses only had to be completed but others were built.
Areas where houses were built included several parts of Corinth, San Fernando, where over 900 houses were built.
It also included east Port-of-Spain. Singh confirmed houses at Trestrail Lands and Victoria Keys were not included on that list of houses completed or built.
He said the Justice Ministry received an allocation of $1.5 million from 2011 to 2014 for ads and public relations campaigns and spent $1.4 million.
Energy Minister Ken Ramnarine said his ministry spent $8.6 million on similar items from 2011 to 2014.
PNM Senator Camille Robinson-Regis expressed concerns she had aired at previous sessions on similar replies to questions of the same nature. She said figures presented by ministers did not match those in budget documents.
Finance Minister Larry Howai, saying his ministry is involved in an exercise to reconcile these figures, explained the heading for the figures in the budget documents was an overall one under which fell items, such a call cards, calendars, manuals for state enterprises and other things as well as costs for PR, promotions, publicity and the like and the latter costs — a subset of the entire figure — was given by ministers in their replies.
He said the figures were correct and the ministry asked other ministries to submit accounts annually.
He said the information was audited by the Auditor General and figures were presented to Parliament at year end.