Copyright trinidadexpress
Sea Lots Open Bible church pastor Raymond O’Keele says there must be “a conversation with the guys from Sea Lots about Government’s plan to create an industrial, maritime trade, and free zone area in the East Port of Spain (EPOS) community”. On Thursday, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar unveiled a mul-ti-billi-on--dollar vision to transform Trinidad and Tobago through econo-mic diversification by positioning the country as a global logistics hub. She also said T&T was open for business and funding for the mega-projects will come through private partnerships and foreign investment. Among the projects are plans to transform the capital city which includes 400 acres of reclaimed land to expand the port. Works and Infrastructure Minister Jearlean John unveiled plans for a revitalised cruise ship complex, a Sea Lots Industrial Park and Free Trade Zone, and a modern transport hub to house the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) and inter-island ferry. There are also plans for dry-docking facilities. Further west towards Inva-ders Bay, John said there are about 54 acres of reclaimed land, and Government plans to reclaim another 40 acres. Construction plans include 300 premium waterfront apartments, five-star hotels, a 400-berth marina, convention centre, and international financial centre. In a phone interview yesterday, O’Keele, who was born in Sea Lots, and has been pastoring a Full Gospel church for seven years there, said: “I have not given it much thought but this weekend I want to analyse it properly. I have not listened to it. I saw the posting. I can’t make a comment in terms of what they plan to do.” He added: “I have been pastor for seven years. It’s obvious we will have to conversation with the guys. It was just released yesterday (Thursday).” He also engages in a lot of community work to assist vulnerable and needy people. Also speaking by phone to the Express, Felicia Burke, the wife of the late self-styled community leader Cedric “Burkie” Burke, said: “It should not be bad. I don’t know much about it to comment any further.” Procurement process When contacted on the proposed projects, newly minted Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago Ltd (UDeCOTT) chairman Shankar Bidaisee said there is an active procurement process in place and that UDeCOTT was awaiting the conclusion of that process to determine the way forward. Yesterday, UDeCOTT’s chief procurement officer issued an expression of interest for the Revitalisation Programme which stated that the deadline for submissions is January 22, 2026 at 2 p.m. The Expression of Interest (EOI) process began on Thursday. The release said: “The Government, through UDeCOTT, invites local and international developers to support T&T long-term sustainable development goals by participating in the Expression Of Interest (EOI) for the programme. The EOI will serve as a market sounding exercise to identify and shortlist applicants who may subsequently be invited to take part in detailed request for proposal (RFP) stages for specific revitalisation projects across several varied project categories.”
