Padarath: Govt won’t rule out privatising SWMCOL

Pub­lic Util­i­ties Min­is­ter Bar­ry Padarath yes­ter­day re­fused to rule out pri­vati­sa­tion or a pub­lic-pri­vate part­ner­ship for the Trinidad and To­ba­go Sol­id Waste Man­age­ment Com­pa­ny (SWM­COL), say­ing the state en­ter­prise’s busi­ness mod­el must change to re­duce its bur­den on tax­pay­ers.

Dur­ing the Stand­ing Fi­nance Com­mit­tee’s ex­am­i­na­tion of the Min­istry of Pub­lic Util­i­ties’ 2027 bud­getary al­lo­ca­tions, for­mer Pub­lic Util­i­ties Min­is­ter Mar­vin Gon­za­les asked whether the Gov­ern­ment was con­sid­er­ing pri­vati­sa­tion or a pub­lic-pri­vate part­ner­ship in the sol­id waste man­age­ment sec­tor.

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Padarath stopped short of com­mit­ting to ei­ther op­tion but said none had been ruled out.