NEWS
Tabaquite students brave hazardous landslip to reach CSEC exam
Desperate to get to the Tabaquite Secondary School to sit CSEC exams on Tuesday morning, over a dozen schoolchildren hitched rides with complete strangers to get past a landslip along the Guaracara/Tabaquite Main road. Resident Sharen Badal-Ahyew spoke to Newsday on Tuesday morning after she was forced to return to her home because of the landslip, located at the 17-mile mark along the road. She said the problem began to develop last year due to illegal quarrying along the main road. Read more here
As floods subside, T&T under strong winds alert
Even as residents in parts of south Trinidad are trying to clean up from floods on Monday, T&T is set to experience more showers and thunderstorms today and tomorrow with the passage of a weak tropical wave. While rivers across south Trinidad remain out of their banks today, this next round of rainfall will pack gusty winds exceeding 55 kilometres per hour, introducing new hazards. Through 10 am today, the Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service (TTMS) maintained the Riverine Flood Alert (Yellow Level), which was downgraded from Orange Level yesterday afternoon. The alert was also expanded eastward to encompass the Ortoire River Basin in southeastern Trinidad, where the Ortoire River, Nariva River and its tributaries began to overtop from early yesterday morning. According to the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government, flooding was reported along the Guayaguayare Main Road, Rio Claro; Poole Valley Trace; Cedar Grove; Northwest Trace, Mafeking; Inner Mafeking; and the Naparima Mayaro Road, Mafeking, with approximately six to twelve inches of water on this main thoroughfare as of yesterday. Read more here
POLITICS
Duke: THA running illegally without chief administrator
Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) political leader Watson Duke believes the THA is “running illegally” without a chief administrator. At a sod-turning ceremony last Friday for the $300 million Synergy Water Park at Friendship Estate, Deputy Chief Secretary Dr Faith BYisrael apologised for the absence of Chief Secretary Farley Augustine. She told the audience the latter had been “trying to deal with several emergencies that have come as a result of the THA being without a chief administrator for almost one month.” The THA has had no chief administrator since Ethlyn John retired on May 17. Read more here
BUSINESS
Primera Oil awarded onshore bid-round block
Primera Oil and Gas Ltd, a subsidiary of Touchstone Exploration, has announced its success in the onshore and nearshore bid rounds opened in June last year. In a media release on Touchstone’s website the company said it was notified on Monday that it had been awarded the Cipero onshore block in south central Trinidad. Its bid on the Charuma block – a 72,784 gross acre block in central Trinidad – did not meet the technical requirements for granting a licence, but the government authorised the Energy Ministry to improve the minimum work programme for the possible grant of an exploration and production licence. Read more here
Major upgrades to Hilton to start this year
Major upgrades are in line for the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre and works are set to begin between the last quarter of this year and early next year. The Ministry of Trade and Industry in its fiscal 2023 midyear achievement published on its website and in the daily newspapers highlighted that in January, cabinet agreed to the implementation of a revised four-year Property Improvement Plan, which would be undertaken by the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT). The Express Business sent further questions to Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon on what the upgrades would entail. She said construction will include structural works to the main/north building: doors, windows, buildings, and lighting fixtures; and roof works: design-build for the replacement of major sections of the roof system to the facility. Read more here
REGIONAL
Caribbean market can become high-value and specialised
President Dr. Irfaan Ali on Tuesday said that the Caribbean has an opportunity to position its market as a high-value specialised one. Speaking at the Caribbean Agri-Food Investors Conference, he said: “The Caribbean Market must be positioned and as we are saying now, positioning the market as a high-value specialised market because of scale and because of our location and our own competitive advantages, we have a great opportunity of positioning this market as a high-value specialised market.” The Caribbean Agri-Food Investors Conference is an event that seeks to drive international investors to Caribbean agribusiness opportunities. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Italy mourns and asks who will succeed Berlusconi
Italy is marking the death of ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi with a spectacle befitting the grand soap opera of his life. The one-time cruise singer who led Italy with no prior political experience built a media empire and had a string of wives and girlfriends. The Archbishop of Milan will lead Berlusconi's state funeral in the city's grand cathedral on Wednesday. Italy is holding a day of national mourning. All Italian and European flags on public buildings have been lowered to half-mast. This kind of tribute is unprecedented for a former prime minister. A state funeral is a privilege usually reserved for popes, war heroes and serving ministers. Read more here
14th June 2023