Ex-Pan Trinbago bosses blame Udecott for
Senior Reporter
jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt
Two former Pan Trinbago executive members say the pan body’s failure to finish constructing its headquarters on state land in Trincity, was due to a lack of initiative by the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (Udecott).
Speaking with Guardian Media yesterday, former president Keith Diaz and vice president Byron Serrette said it was Udecott that failed to construct the headquarters on the site.
The men spoke two days after the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts unveiled the design for the new Pan Trinbago headquarters in Port-of-Spain to be built by Udecott.
The $120 million building will also house the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, Tourism Trinidad Limited and the National Carnival Commission.
When completed, the six-storey class-A mixed-use building will feature a theatre/auditorium with 300 seats for performances and recordings; a pan museum and interpretive centre; conference and meeting rooms, a rooftop entertainment area and a gift shop.
The building will be constructed on the old post office site on Wrightson Road after it is demolished.
The ministry said this venue is the third site given to Pan Trinbago. The first was a parcel of land in Chaguaramas given in 1974 by then-prime minister Dr Eric Williams and the Trincity site was given in 2001 by then-prime minister Basdeo Panday.
The new headquarters was first unveiled by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley at the National Steelband Music Festival in Port-of-Spain on Saturday.
Pan Trinbago agreed to give up ownership of the Trincity site in return for the Port-of-SPain venue.
However, there has been public debate about the cost Pan Trinbago had undertaken on the Trincity site before abandoning it.
Yesterday, Serrette said the plans to build the headquarters in Trinicity was in the hands of Udecott.
“While Pan Trinbago was being blamed all the time, the project was in the hands of Udecott. Udecott did nothing!” he claimed.
However, he added that Pan Trinbago’s past executives and members all shared the view that while they were satisfied with the Trincity site, they still wanted an office in Port-of-Spain.
Pannist Dane Gulston also shared the same view on Monday when he spoke with Guardian Media, saying Pan Trinbago could have kept the Trincity site for a business operation while using the PoS site as its headquarters.
Serrette said Pan Trinbago’s former heads also believe they still have rightful claim to lands in Chaguaramas, which he claimed was abducted by the Chaguaramas Development Authority (CDA).
However, Diaz said a fire at an old Pan Trinbago office in Port-of-Spain destroyed all paperwork showing proof that the Chaguaramas lands were given to Pan Trinbago in 1974.
He denied that during his tenure as president, between 2009 to 2018, he received any funding to construct the headquarters in Trincity. He said the project was a Udecott project which he inherited as president.
Diaz said building materials were supplied to Pan Trinbago but they never received money from any state agency for construction of the headquarters.
In fact, Diaz claimed it was Udecott who stalled the construction.
“I tried to build the building, they told me that they will get this fella, Calder Hart, under (Patrick) Manning and the other fella who takeover the company that build the first set of government buildings. When I approached them, they started talk and they never continued. They never continued the building.”
Guardian Media contacted Udecott Manager, Corporate Communications & Marketing, Roxanne Stapleton-Whyms, for a response yesterday. She asked that questions be emailed to her but did not respond up to press time.
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