NEW MINISTER of Transport, Works and Maintenance Dr William Duguid has selected boards for both the Transport Board and the Transport Authority and plans to hit the ground running.
Speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday during debate of the first phase of the three-part Barbados Economic And Transformation Recovery Plan produced in conjunction with Social Partnership, Duguid said the first order of business was how to fix the problem of buses and scheduling at the Transport Board.
He said he paid a surprise visit to the depot at Mangrove in St Philip on Sunday, unannounced, “but a birdie had told me to go and have a look up there” where he saw bus after bus without an engine – almost 40 of them.
The minister said the former board had brought in a consultant who brought in other workers from Trinidad, and paid him a massive salary to only work two weeks a month.
He said the engines that were installed did not work, which contributed to the shortfall of the bus fleet, but said he had undertaken to get the buses fixed.
Turning to the Transport Authority, Duguid said the former Minister of Transport “ran down” by the River Van Stand and opened the new terminal, but still not one ZR had been in it.
“Not one passenger has been able to be accommodated in the terminal because there are certain things that have to be done to get the terminal operated. But I wanted to assure the public as soon as possible – and by the way, I have already put in place a new Transport Authority board – as soon as I get that board to meet, we will be working very swiftly to get access to the terminal,” he promised. (JS)
