Government has paid some $55 million to Trinitrain Consortium for the first phase of the billion-dollar rapid rail project, Works Minister Colm Imbert said in the Senate yesterday.

In response to a question from Opposition Senator Wade Mark on the Order Paper, Imbert said the agreement stipulated payment in three currencies TT$55,744,756, euro16,678,133 and US$37,797,858.

Imbert explained that the project involved three phases. Phase one over a 20-month period which involved the planning, identification of feasible alternatives and preliminary engineering.

He said phase-two is a 39- month period for design and construction. Phase three is operation and maintenance phase for a 15-year period.

Imbert said phase one will be completed in or around April next year and at the end of this process Government will have three options.

The first would be to proceed with Trinitrain as the contractor to commence design and construction for some of segments of the project. The second, is to have a competitive tender process for the project and the third to put the entire project on hold.

’No decision has been made to date regarding these options. The decision will be made following completion of phase one when the Government will have the full detail of the prices negotiated with Trinitrain for phases two and three,’ said Imbert.

Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Teshiera earlier this month already signalled that the project could be put on hold given this country’s economic situation.