ROWLEY’S ELECTION ROADMAP

PRIME Minister Dr. Keith Rowley has devised a timeline for delivery on big-ticket items with the hope that they would propel his People’s National Movement (PNM) back into national office.

Rowley is aiming for bragging rights on several projects in order to secure voters’ support for the general election due in August 2025.

The ventures include distribution of United States-sponsored crime fighting equipment, purchase of police vehicles and employment of more lawmen.

The Government has promised state-of-the-art, data-driven measures and, modern scanners and naval assets.

Rowley is pinning high hopes on exploration at the natural gas-rich Drag field, and Energy Minister Stuart Young has been mandated to prioritise negotiations with Venezuela’s Maduro administration.

A planned improvement to water supply is expected in March 2025, following the “transformation” of the water sector.

A new management structure at the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) is a condition of a US $80 million Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) loan.

The funds are also being utilised for the harvesting and delivery of water, with the hope that there would be an end to heated public protests over the lack of the precious commodity.

The billion-dollar 540-bed Central Block of the Port Spain General Hospital is due to be completed within the next few months, and is expected to ease the backlog in surgeries.

The $1.1 billion Sangre Grande Hospital, with 106 beds, is also slated for completion.

Rowley is also hoping to carry out local government reform, which includes permitting municipal corporations to spend collections from the property tax.

Housing is a cornerstone of Rowley’s electoral hopes, and 1,692 unfinished units would be added new projects.

The Government is aiming to spend $350 million on housing in the current fiscal year.

A $700 million loan is expected to be finalised in the election year to build 600 houses.

Contractors are expected to be kept busy and workers would get jobs with plans to pave roads, rebuild bridges, construct highway networks and improve drainage.

A major scheme of work has been outlined, but, with the Government’s slow pace of implementation, it is unlikely that much would be done before the election.

The Government is pumping millions into the Public Sector Improvement Programme (PSIP) to improve the infrastructure.

A coastal erosion programme is also planned.

A range of infrastructural, housing, tourism, education, healthcare and other projects are listed for Tobago and while they are not expected to be complete before the election, the Government is hoping to win goodwill in the sister isle.

The two Tobago seats are crucial to the outcome of the general election.

Rowley has once more placed the whistleblower law on the legislative agenda and he is expected to tout that measure and the Procurement Act as anti-corruption steps.

Informed sources say the Prime Minister also intends to campaign on the state of the economy, claiming it has rebounded after the Covids-19 shutdown, is consolidating and is set for growth.

The PNM camp would tout the frontline measures in various sectors and argue that the ruling regime is poised to improve the quality of life over the next five years.

But the political opposition has a radically different story to tell.