The Tamana InTech Park has attracted a US$40 million North American Information and Communication Technology (ICT) investor who intends to build a data centre in T&T. Construction of the ICT centre on the 1,100 acres park-which is under the Evolving TecKnologies and Enterprise Development (eTecK) control-is expected to take place in July.
eTecK's chairman Brian Frontin said the investor was in the final stage of obtaining debt and equity investments and upon completion will execute a lease with eTecK to occupy approximately four acres of land at the park. The centre will serve local, regional and international customers and employ and train several nationals of T&T, Frontin disclosed on Wednesday.
Frontin was appointed chairman last July. eTecK, the Government agency charged with diversifying the economy, stalled for three years. Now up and running, Phase One of the park focuses on short term collaboration with eTecK, the University of T&T and Niherst to establish a research and development based science and technology park.
Phase One comprises UTT's flagship campus, a flagship building and utility building on 168 acres of land. With $600 million of taxpayers' money being forked out on the park, Frontin said eTeck's board was now looking to rescue it with the view of capitalising on investments. This figure does not include expenses on UTT's campus.
Also to be rescued, Frontin said, were the 80 per cent complete flagship building, which offers office accommodation for firms of all sizes and a utility building. Completion of both projects will cost approximately $80 million. Frontin said the turnaround for eTecK was like taking a breath of fresh air, knowing what they had to deal with and how quickly they have moved forward.
Frontin said there was no commitment to the flagship building after spending so much money. "I called this a tragedy seeing that amount of money with no real returns. When you leave investments in the ground trapped that is wastage. You have to either recover it to get partial or full benefits."
Frontin said all he wanted to do was recover the stranded assets, projects and investments at eTecK which may sometimes, at surface level, appear unrecoverable. While investment may seem as foolhardy, Frontin said, with proper planning, management and execution, these projects and investments can be turned around to achieve sustainable and socio-economic value.
Frontin said when funding for "Tamana and eTecK were stalled in 2008 the contractors' payments made to date are in the order of almost $400 million in suspension charges. So when people were still on site, the board met contractors on suspension. The project was stalled but the bills were still being racked up. So we had to cancel the contracts."
eTecK's US$6M monthly burn rate
Terminating the contracts, Frontin said, was the board's first decision. "I kept asking how can we keep people on site and incur bills where there is no comprehensive plan." eTecK, Frontin said, had a monthly burn rate of US$ 6 million to contractors. Twelve contracts for the park were either stopped or terminated, all of which, Frontin said, were done within a legal framework.
"We thought it would be imprudent to carry that payment plan forward until there was a comprehensive revisit of the business." Invest TT, of which Frontin is chairman, is a subsidiary of eTecK, established last year to focus on attracting investors to the country. Frontin said last July, three key contracts resumed at the park to receive land based tenants.
The completion of these works will now be followed by the processing of statutory approvals, allowing eTecK to lease 21 developed lots, spanned across 75 acres of land, to prospective investors by July 2012. Frontin said aggressive marketing of the developed area and formation of incentive packages are currently underway.
"Apart from these works, the park is already equipped with utilities such as power, gas, water and access to communications to satisfy the needs of any investor that plans to construct their own facilities." In March 2012, eTecK issued an Expression of Interest to identify potential contractors/developers with the capacity to construct facilities to accommodate prospective investors.
"Over the last few months we have received a number of queries from international groupings and multilateral agencies including the IDB, World Bank, Colombia and India who are interested in relocating or locating big business in Trinidad." The park, Frontin said, represents an idle location.
"The model being adopted is that upon identification of a committed investor, an allocation of land would be leased to a selected developer for constructing the facility based on the specific needs of the said investor, with that cost of construction being borne by the developer and not eTecK or the Government."
The completed facility would then be leased by eTecK from the developer and then sub-leased to the investor along with the attendant incentives. So far, Frontin said, six prospective contractors/developers have responded to the expression of interest and assessments are ongoing to produce a pre-qualified listing for potential investors.
Frontin said plans are also underway to approach Cabinet and the Government to get their blessings on the expressions of interests to the wider market for a joint development of Phase One of the park, which they are trying to restore and recover.