4. The Minority   Leader asked the Chief Secretary -

“Given that the   ‘Stage in the Sea’ is estimated to cost around $1.7m dollars and given that   you have indicated that the Tobago House of Assembly has limited financial   resources, does the Chief Secretary consider the execution of this project   the best use of scarce resources?”

Madam Presiding Officer, it should be noted that the project affectionately called ‘Stage in the Sea’, though its more than that, that cost one point seven million dollars ($1.7m), forms part of the THA’s work in reclaiming land along the coastline in Scarborough and there. Since there will be need for much more extensive land reclamation in the Scarborough area and the Scarborough coastline heading towards Lambeau, to protect the coastline, it is not a waste of resource.

Minority Leader.

So, Mr. Chief Secretary, was any kind of preliminary studies done with this revetment work; were there any preliminary  studies/report on this project?

Yes, there were.

Will the Chief Secretary be so kind to tell us who provided the professional report/design on this project.

Chief Secretary.

The professional work and design were done by the Coastal   Management Unit of the Division of Infrastructure.

Minority Leader.

Madam Presiding Officer, I have been privy to a coastline sea revention project at   the Magdalena Grand Resort and I know in my previous experience, that to have   done such a work, it took the company TECK - we had to bring in a   professional and they did coastline studies for about a year. Were such   similar undertakings done in this situation?

Chief Secretary.

Madam Presiding Officer, I cannot speak to the ‘Magdalena’ coastline. This is about what happened at Scarborough. In fact, I would inform the Minority that since coming into office, we have had to bail out the ‘Magdalena’ in doing works down there and there is also a current request from the Ministry of Trade to bail them out down there, notwithstanding all   the studies. However, yes, similar studies have actually been done, similar studies are actually underway, and one   must remember that this Administration came into office, campaigning on a   premise that we would reclaim lands along the entire coastline in Scarborough   and develop the port and ... [Crosstalk]

Assemblyman ...

... because of that fact, since we came into office, we started the baseline studies in the Scarborough area.

Madam Presiding Officer ...

Minority Leader, those were your three questions for now. [Laughter]

Any other question to the Chief Secretary in particular,   can be had at his next questioning which is four months from now.

Madam Presiding Officer, it is Christmas. [Laughter]

It is. That is why.

   Minority   Councillor.