BLOW TO PNM CORPS

Akash Sama­roo 

Lead Ed­i­tor-Pol­i­tics 

Akash.sama­[email protected] 

De­vel­op­ment fund­ing for all sev­en Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM)-con­trolled mu­nic­i­pal cor­po­ra­tions has been re­duced in the 2027 Bud­get, with their com­bined al­lo­ca­tion falling by $49.55 mil­lion, or 61 per cent, com­pared with the orig­i­nal pro­vi­sions for fis­cal 2026.

The sev­en Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC)-con­trolled cor­po­ra­tions col­lec­tive­ly face a sub­stan­tial­ly small­er re­duc­tion of $3.063 mil­lion, or ap­prox­i­mate­ly 1.6 per cent, ac­cord­ing to the Min­istry of Fi­nance’s Draft Es­ti­mates of De­vel­op­ment Pro­gramme Ex­pen­di­ture for 2027.

The dis­par­i­ty ex­tends to drainage and ir­ri­ga­tion, as well as lo­cal roads and bridges, with com­bined fund­ing for both pro­grammes de­clin­ing sharply across PNM-con­trolled cor­po­ra­tions.

To­geth­er, the sev­en PNM coun­cils will re­ceive $31.62 mil­lion in de­vel­op­ment fund­ing, down from $81.17 mil­lion orig­i­nal­ly al­lo­cat­ed for fis­cal 2026. UNC-con­trolled cor­po­ra­tions will re­ceive $187.4 mil­lion, com­pared with $190.463 mil­lion.

Across all 14 cor­po­ra­tions, the com­bined al­lo­ca­tion falls from $271.633 mil­lion to $219.02 mil­lion. PNM-con­trolled coun­cils ac­count for ap­prox­i­mate­ly 94.2 per cent of that $52.613 mil­lion re­duc­tion.

De­vel­op­ment al­lo­ca­tions fund projects in­clud­ing drainage, lo­cal roads and bridges, recre­ation­al fa­cil­i­ties, mar­kets, mu­nic­i­pal build­ings and equip­ment. (See page 7)

Diego Mar­tin faces the steep­est per­cent­age re­duc­tion, with its al­lo­ca­tion falling from $11.1 mil­lion to $2.22 mil­lion, an 80 per cent de­crease.

San Fer­nan­do records the largest dol­lar re­duc­tion, los­ing $14.75 mil­lion, as its al­lo­ca­tion drops from $18.55 mil­lion to $3.8 mil­lion, a de­crease of ap­prox­i­mate­ly 79.5 per cent.

Point Fortin’s al­lo­ca­tion falls from $5.55 mil­lion to $2 mil­lion, while Ari­ma’s de­clines from $5.6 mil­lion to $2.5 mil­lion.

San Juan/Laven­tille’s al­lo­ca­tion is halved, from $19 mil­lion to $9.5 mil­lion. Tu­na­puna/Pi­ar­co re­ceives $9 mil­lion, down from $17.27 mil­lion, while Port of Spain re­ceives $2.6 mil­lion, com­pared with $4.1 mil­lion.

The al­lo­ca­tions al­so show par­tic­u­lar­ly steep re­duc­tions in drainage fund­ing.

Com­bined drainage and ir­ri­ga­tion pro­vi­sions for PNM-con­trolled cor­po­ra­tions fall from $23.8 mil­lion to $6.155 mil­lion, a re­duc­tion of ap­prox­i­mate­ly 74.1 per cent.

Diego Mar­tin’s pro­vi­sion drops from $5.5 mil­lion to $400,000, a 92.7 per cent de­crease. San Fer­nan­do’s falls from $5.5 mil­lion to $800,000, while Tu­na­puna/Pi­ar­co’s de­clines from $5.5 mil­lion to $1.5 mil­lion.

San Juan/Laven­tille re­ceives $2.175 mil­lion for drainage, down from $5.5 mil­lion. Ari­ma’s pro­vi­sion falls from $1 mil­lion to $400,000.

Point Fortin is an ex­cep­tion, re­ceiv­ing an in­crease from $300,000 to $400,000 de­spite its over­all de­vel­op­ment al­lo­ca­tion falling.

Com­bined lo­cal roads and bridges fund­ing for PNM-con­trolled cor­po­ra­tions de­clines from $16.7 mil­lion to $8 mil­lion, a re­duc­tion of ap­prox­i­mate­ly 52.1 per cent.

San Fer­nan­do’s pro­vi­sion falls from $5 mil­lion to $840,000. Tu­na­puna/Pi­ar­co’s drops from $5 mil­lion to $2.3 mil­lion, while San Juan/Laven­tille’s de­clines from $5 mil­lion to $3 mil­lion.

Port-of-Spain and Ari­ma re­tain $500,000 each for that pro­gramme. Point Fortin’s pro­vi­sion in­creas­es from $200,000 to $460,000.

Among UNC-con­trolled cor­po­ra­tions, the over­all pic­ture is mixed.

San­gre Grande’s de­vel­op­ment al­lo­ca­tion falls from $18 mil­lion to $10 mil­lion, a re­duc­tion of 44.4 per cent. Ch­agua­nas re­ceives $37.9 mil­lion, down mar­gin­al­ly from $37.96 mil­lion.

Siparia gains $4.95 mil­lion, tak­ing its al­lo­ca­tion to $26 mil­lion. Cou­va/Tabaquite/Tal­paro and Ma­yaro/Rio Claro re­tain al­lo­ca­tions of $19 mil­lion and $18.85 mil­lion, re­spec­tive­ly. Pe­nal/Debe and Princes Town re­ceive small in­creas­es.

Com­bined drainage fund­ing across UNC-con­trolled cor­po­ra­tions falls from $52 mil­lion to $45.75 mil­lion, a re­duc­tion of ap­prox­i­mate­ly 12 per cent.

Their lo­cal roads and bridges fund­ing, how­ev­er, in­creas­es from $41 mil­lion to $68.85 mil­lion, or ap­prox­i­mate­ly 67.9 per cent. Ch­agua­nas re­ceives $15 mil­lion, up from $7 mil­lion, while Pe­nal/Debe’s pro­vi­sion ris­es from $7 mil­lion to $10.5 mil­lion.

This is the sec­ond suc­ces­sive bud­get in which PNM-con­trolled cor­po­ra­tions face fund­ing re­duc­tions. Guardian Me­dia re­port­ed cuts to their op­er­a­tional and re­cur­rent al­lo­ca­tions in Bud­get 2026. 

Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les has al­leged po­lit­i­cal dis­crim­i­na­tion and called for Gov­ern­ment to pub­lish its al­lo­ca­tion cri­te­ria.

Ques­tions on the ra­tio­nale for the cuts were sent to Ur­ban De­vel­op­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Min­is­ter Khadi­jah Ameen, who ac­knowl­edged re­ceipt but had not re­spond­ed by press time.