After being housed at the International Waterfront Complex, Port-of-Spain for the last eight years, Parliament will be returning to the famous Red House in January.
Today’s launch of the final session of the current Parliamentary term will be the last at the Waterfront facility.
The fifth and final session of the Government’s five-year Parliamentary term will be launched at 1.30 pm today.
The PNM administration has been in charge over the term of this 11th Parliament. The term concludes next September following which general elections will be due.
There will be no ceremonial opening - or Presidential speech- today. Both the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament will meet in separate areas, have a brief session where the proclamation launching the session will be read, and then proceedings conclude. Leaders of each House may deliver brief remarks, officials said.
The first order of business in the new session is Monday’s presentation of the 2020 Budget by Finance minister Colm Imbert.
The venue for proceedings is the Parliament chamber at the Waterfront Complex.
The Parliament has been at that location since 2011 when operations were moved there to allow renovation and refurbishing to be done at the Red House. That was to have been completed this year.
In March it was initially projected that the Red House would have been completed by year-end. There had been speculation Parliament may have been able to return there last month. But on August 29, Government said it would take some time for Parliament staff and operations to move into the Red House and this would be done during this part of the year.
After the Christmas break, it was projected Parliament would return to the Red House in January 2020.
Officials said yesterday, Parliament staff have started “packing up” items for the shift. Furthering the completion process at the Red House end, the recently constructed skywalk joining the Red House’s west wing on St Vincent Street to the westerly Cabildo building is currently being painted in the brick red colour the Red House is known for.
The Government also stated that the chambers and floors which currently house the Parliamentary chamber at the Waterfront Complex, will be converted into civil courtrooms when Parliament returns to the Red House. This would free up the Hall of Justice facilities for more criminal courts.
The Parliament has been using eight floors at the Waterfront. These facilities which will accommodate courts next year include offices, rooms, dining facilities, broadcasting rooms, library and gym facilities, daycare, sickbay, and other areas.
Government officials said this new session’s focus will be on the 50 plus pieces of legislation.
Opposition MP Rodney Charles said, “We look forward to the new session which we know is a pre-political session. We’ll work in the national interest to deal with issues of importance to citizens. Our focus will be on crime, dealing with unemployment and the need for diversification, the health sector and others to ensure Government is held accountable and where we’ll present our alternative views.”