NEWS
Electrical repairs completed at desal plant
Repairs at the Point Lisas desalination plant were completed last Sunday and production returned to the contracted flow of 40 million gallons of water per day (mgd). The plant had to be closed last week Friday, the second closure in four weeks, which saw many residents in Central and South Trinidad without pipe-borne water. Manager, corporate communications at the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) Daniel Plenty said the disruptions in operations which arose at the plant on December 3 last year and January 4 this year, were related to unforeseen electrical problems. Read more here
WASA working to fix their potholes
The dream of every motorist to commute pothole-free roads in the country is not a pie in the sky. So says former director of highways Roger Ganesh a day after his successor Navin Ramsingh told a parliamentary committee that 90 per cent of complaints the Ministry of Works received were about potholes attributed to the Water and Sewage Authority (WASA). Acting CEO of WASA Alan Poon-King acknowledged that the authority had developed a reputation for damaging roads but assured that new systems were in place to minimise the development of potholes following repair works. Read more here
POLITICS
Tewarie: PM misrepresenting facts
Caroni Central MP Dr Bhoendradatt Tewarie has described the Prime Minister’s two-part national address as a “misrepresentation of the facts and a manipulation of numbers” saying the previous government’s $9 billion overdraft at the Central Bank was “well within the law and below the Central Bank limit at that time.” He said the PNM Administration has since “raised the ceiling for overdraft borrowing” and this has prompted the IMF, in its last report, to warn them about overdraft borrowing. Read more here
Ministry on alert after 3 Swine Flu deaths
The Health Ministry is on high alert for cases of Swine Flu following the death of a third patient from the deadly virus. A statement from the South-West Regional Health Authority in response to the Guardian’s report on the death of a Tabaquite woman said “proper medical procedures were followed” at the San Fernando General Hospital in treating Nicole Seecharan. “The SWRHA continues to be on heightened alert and surveillance for swine flu cases and has coordinated all its facilities to be fully prepared for any further presence of the disease in the South-West Region,” the statement said. Read more here
BUSINESS
Energy boost
The TT Energy Chamber, in its outlook for the year, is predicting a modest recovery for the local energy sector in 2019, based on increased natural gas production, and hence, increased liquefied natural gas (LNG) and petrochemical exports. Read more here
REGIONAL
No Support For Maduro - Kingston, Caracas Rift Deepens As Jamaica Backs OAS Resolution Not To Recognise Venezuela’s President
Jamaica yesterday sided with 18 other members of the Organization of American States (OAS) in favour of a resolution not to recognise the legitimacy of Nicolas Maduro's new term as Venezuela's president. The resolution was passed in Washington minutes after Maduro was sworn in for a second term in Caracas, Venezuela, and included a demand for new presidential elections - with all necessary guarantees of a free, fair, transparent, and legitimate process - to be held at an early date, attended by international observers. The resolution also underscored that the OAS Permanent Council and the Meeting of Consultation of Foreign Ministers remained ready to engage in diplomatic initiatives, including good offices, aimed at promoting dialogue in Venezuela, with a view to arriving at a political solution to the crisis in that country. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Snow brings parts of Europe to standstill
Aftershocks of Trump Syria exit plan shake allies and region
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted Thursday that there has been no contradiction in the shifting US strategy in Syria or confusion about it -- claims that fly in the face of shocked responses from allies in the Middle East and beyond. As Pompeo and other US officials continue to qualify the terms and timing of a US pullout of troops from Syria -- altering President Donald Trump's December 19 assertion that forces would leave "now" -- the fallout is beginning. Read more here
11th January 2019