White Hall is not yet ready for use, with major refurbishments still to be completed.
This is according to Minister of Works and Infrastructure, Jearlean John, as she responded to a question in the House of Representatives on Friday.
The Minister was asked to indicate whether the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT) had carried out the requisite works required at White Hall to make it safe and suitable for the Prime Minister.
“Whitehall has to be safe and suitable for the staff that work there, for visitors who attend there. You know, it’s not primarily for the Prime Minister. Employees stay longer in that space. In any case, Whitehall as we know now is subject to excessive flooding. Right? Mould everywhere. And maybe the rats they’re talking about are also in Whitehall, as well as really infesting Whitehall. So basically, Whitehall remains uninhabitable because of the extensive work that has to be carried out. You’ll appreciate that it’s a very old building, so you can’t just put contractors onto Whitehall. No, they didn’t maintain it.”
The Minister also pushed back against claims that upgrades to the Diplomatic Centre were done for the Prime Minister’s personal comfort, stressing that no public building is refurbished for any one individual.
“Every space was dirty, filthy, mouldy, rundown, as we say in Trinidad and Tobago. It’s true. You understand? Yeah, the standards differ. You understand? So, one had to get in janitorial cleaning, landscaping, elevator maintenance, garbage disposal, air freshener, pest control, to fix the water feature. You didn’t know the water could have been blue. It was black, dirty, filthy. I mean the residents, and I want to make it very clear. This is the Dip cCentre, as opposed to the residence. We have not touched the residence.”