00:00On Monday, the University of the West Indies announced that its Debe South campus will welcome students,
00:07primarily international students, from August 2025 as the home of UWE's Global School of Medicine.
00:14But it's not something the government was pleased to hear.
00:18Minister Munilal says UWE's plan for the Debe South campus is not in line with the UNC's original intention.
00:26An urgent dialogue is needed to discuss that matter.
00:29And I told the principal at the beginning that I wanted to state up front that there is a concern about the use of this facility
00:38because we had intended this facility to be used for law and related fields.
00:44And we saw a press release of some kind in the newspaper, which we saw for the first time.
00:51I had never heard of that before.
00:52On Tuesday morning, a tour was facilitated by the university with its principal, Rosemary Bell Antwine,
01:00present alongside Minister of Tishri Education, Prakash Pasad, Orupooch East MP, Dr. Rudal Munilal,
01:07Orupooch West MP, Dr. Lakram Bodo and other officials.
01:11They must have further dialogue because it cannot be that we built this for one purpose and then it's being used for something else.
01:18We need to put a full stop right now on this business and go back to our original ideas, our original vision, our original intention.
01:28This was the brainchild of Mrs. Kamala Pasad-Misasa.
01:32If it is the university had no money in the last 10 years to open the campus,
01:37I don't know where they'll get the money in the next three months.
01:40He says apart from law, the UNC's intention was to have police officers, law enforcement and forensic science training at this campus.
01:50He says it was horrific to see the condition this half a billion dollar project is currently in.
01:56This is a massive, almost palatial type of campus, 100 plus acres.
02:01It is covered mainly, 75 percent is covered, you know, as a derelict site, as a rust site, overrun in some areas by bush and grass and vine.
02:17And the railings, all the fabricated work and so on is in a state of rust and decay.
02:23On Tuesday, media personnel were denied entry to the facility and not allowed on the official tour.
02:30Instead, photographs were shared with us.
02:33Dr. Munilal says even a cricket pavilion they built was unrecognizable.
02:38People don't know, but Barakpur, nearby here, has produced per capita more West Indian cricketers than any village in the Caribbean.
02:46We have produced West Indian cricketers.
02:48And that cricket facility was meant to uplift UE standards of cricket, which will also encourage international teams to come here and play and so on.
02:58And to see it is really to be angry that they have left this facility in such a state.
03:05We contacted the university for comment on the issues raised, but up to news time, did not receive a response.
03:13Cindy Ragubatika Singh, TV6 News.
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