Panday unsure on UNC academy ‘deal’Saturday, October 24 2009
LEADER of the Opposition Basdeo Panday yesterday called for Works Minister Colm Imbert to publish whatever details he may have of a supposed agreement by the former UNC government with the China EXIM Bank for the US$100 million loan to build the Academy of Performing Arts.
After Diego Martin West MP Dr Keith Rowley had on Monday condemned the Government’s construction of the edifices, Imbert had on Wednesday claimed in the Lower House that the agreement to build the centre had been signed by the former UNC government in 1999.
However, Panday said he could not remember, after all these years, and challenged Imbert to publish his evidence for public scrutiny.
Panday said, “I’d like to see the agreement and what we said, what we agreed to. We may have agreed in principle to establish a cultural centre, but certainly not the monstrosity now being imposed on this society.” He said he’d like to compare what if anything the UNC had signed to the current construction underway.
Newsday asked, was any memorandum of understanding (MOU) or intent signed? Panday said, “I don’t know. Mr Imbert should publish the documents.
I can’t remember. Mr Imbert must be open and fair with the society, publish it and let us see what we signed.” A key UNC source questioned the veracity of Imbert’s claim that it was not this Government but the former UNC government that had signed the US$100 million deal to get a loan from the China Exim Bank to build the Academy for Performing Arts. Querying Imbert, the source said: “I was taken aback when he said it. I have no recollection of that at all. In fact I suspect it may be a fabrication. The UNC never brought Chinese workers to Trinidad.”
Newsday pressed to ask if the UNC government might have signed even a preliminary agreement, such as a memorandum of intent.
The source replied, “The only thing I remember at a preliminary stage was a smelter plant. Mr Panday signed an MOU at the Hilton for a feasibility study for a smelter.” Newsday was unable to reach Dr Rowley for comment.
