00:00When the Rural Development Company was founded under the Patrick Manning administration,
00:05it was intended to serve a segment of the population that is sometimes overlooked.
00:10Its aim was to deliver capital projects at a community scale,
00:13which are below those considered by national infrastructural agencies,
00:17inclusive of road rehabilitation, drainage, and landslifts.
00:22But in 2018, the scope of the IRDC changed from its laser focus on rural and underserved areas
00:29as company officials refer to a cabinet minute that directed the change.
00:33In its submission to the JSC, the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government,
00:38which the IRDC falls under, outlines that there is no specific formal criteria to classify a community as rural.
00:47The mandate of IRDC in terms of classification criteria in which they use their projects
00:54was captured in a cabinet decision in 2018.
00:59where it used the entire geographic space of Trinidad to be the mandate of IRDC at the time.
01:06The Ministry's Acting Permanent Secretary, Peter Mitchell, says that it was a policy decision
01:12which the IRDC had to execute.
01:15But the dissemination of projects has come under question from JSC member Anil Roberts,
01:20given what was the initial intention behind the formation of the IRDC.
01:24Here I am seeing out of 138 projects, for example,
01:32100 of these projects are in urban areas and only 38 in rural areas.
01:41And the 100 projects come from five corporations,
01:45whereas the 38 rural communities come from seven corporations.
01:50Similarly, it has been stated that there were 302 loan finance projects,
01:56of which 209 were undertaken in urban areas.
02:01P.S. Mitchell indicates that requests come from various MPs,
02:05and the Rural Development Minister will make the determination on which ones the IRDC is to move forward with.
02:11However, the committee's chairman, Anthony Vieira, senior counsel,
02:14has expressed concern over what has been taking place.
02:18When you look at the term rural development,
02:21you're really talking about improving the quality of life,
02:25economic well-being and social infrastructure
02:27for people living in relatively isolated or sparsely populated areas.
02:34And it would appear that somehow we have strayed from that with some of these projects.
02:42The IRDC is presently strapped for cash,
02:45raising questions about the impact this would have on rural areas,
02:48as resources must now be stretched.
02:51Asked about a justification for the Cabinet decision.
02:55Chair, when I reviewed that particular minute,
02:57it didn't indicate the rationale.
03:00It just indicated Cabinet has actually considered the mandate of IRDC being expanded.
03:07Mitchell says there is a draft policy which he met in 2023 upon assuming office
03:12that was never finalized.
03:14However, it is said that a 2025-2030 policy is being fleshed out
03:20given the new vision of Minister Khadija Amin for the IRDC.
03:25It includes a restructuring of the company.
03:27The JSC says it will be making recommendations to the ministry in this regard.
03:32Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
03:37Thank you very much.
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