Trinidad & Tobago to award PPP contract for Port of Spain expansion this year

Trinidad & Tobago is planning to tender and award a public-private partnership (PPP) contract this year to expand Port of Spain so it can receive larger vessels. 

The tender involves the entry of a new operator to handle the cargo operations of the country’s port authority early in 2024, public administration minister Allyson West (pictured, far left), told BNamericas during the PPP Americas 2023 event that the Inter-American Bank (IDB) hosted in Panama City. 

“We’ve just appointed an IDB team to work with us to develop and pursue the [request for proposal]. So we do have a program and we're hoping that by the end of the year we would have an award so that the new operator can start early in 2024,” she said. 

“We're hoping that not only would they improve our current operations, but that they will expand the operations to include the facility to accept Panamax vessels because that’s one of the key limitations we have. We can only receive very small vessels at the moment,” West said. 

Besides being Trinidad & Tobago's biggest multi-purpose port, Port of Spain is also strategically located with respect to trade links via the Panama Canal.

In April, the country's port authority agreed to the conditions of a US$1.5mn technical cooperation deal with the IDB to structure the PPP. That funding was intended to meet three goals, the government said in a statement. 

These goals were to finalize feasibility studies to design the best model and define the framework for bidders to present their proposals; create the final financial, technical and legal structure, draft PPP contract and bidding documents; and support the government in the bidding process until the contract is signed. 

According to West, there are high expectation that the tender can attract various industry players, as authorities have met representatives of several companies in recent meetings to discuss the contract details.