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Defence Minister Wayne Sturge said a decision will be made by July 31 as to whether the 72 contract workers at the Civilian Conservations Corps (CCC), whose contracts end on that day, will be retained on the programme with a stipend or will be let go.

Speaking to Newsday via phone on July 30, Sturge said the issue was considered and is still being discussed.

“By tomorrow, you’ll know what the final decision is, whether to keep them on a stipend or if it might be cheaper to hire security to secure the assets of the programme or use our existing resources to secure the assets, but we can’t justify spending that amount of money if there is no cohort to train. There are no students and we’re spending $2 million a month.”