Trinidad & Tobago Post to Go Local

The management of postal services in Trinidad and Tobago will be taken over by locals, come August 31. The change will bring to an end a five-year contract between the Trinidad and Tobago Government, and Transcend Worldwide Limited, a New Zealand Consortium. The change to local management ends a five-year contract, signed in February 1999, between the T&T Government and Transcend Worldwide Limited to run the postal services in the country. Confirmation of the change came on Friday from Public Utilities Minister, Pennelope Beckles who told the Express that “the present management will subsist until August 2004 by agreement of both parties.” Beckles said “The government, TTPost, and Transcend are currently negotiating a new arrangement based on an amended scope of work up to March 31, 2005 which will see the hand over to local Managers on the said day.” TTPost was mandated by government in February 1999 to conduct the postal affairs of Trinidad and Tobago. A world Bank loan of some US $16 million was given to the organisation to upgrade the system. Part of the upgrade included the closing down of several post offices and postal agencies throughout the country. TTPost also introduced new services, such as bill collections, courier services and the sale of stationery.