An operator for the 52-room hotel located at the National Academy for the Performing Arts in Port of Spain is yet to be hired.

Minister of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs Marlene McDonald made the disclosure yesterday during a news conference at the Ministry’s Community Education Information Training and Resource Centre in Port of Spain.

McDonald said the Evolving Tecknologies and Enterprise Development Company Ltd (eTECK) ’is responsible for hiring a small operator to operate the 52-room hotel. There are 48 rooms and four suites. We have not yet identified an operator for that hotel’.

The Academy was formally handed over to the Government by the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago Ltd (UDeCOTT) on Monday.

McDonald, who is the chairman of the inter-ministerial committee with responsibility for the academy, added: ’Queen’s Hall board has now formed themselves into the management committee and they have full responsibility for the public auditorium. All requests for the use of that space would go to that particular committee. They are now coming up with a policy statement as to the type of performances and cost for using the auditorium.’

With respect to the academic programmes being offered at the academy which are being managed by the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT), the Minister said: ’Pretty soon you will see ads coming out. I have not been privy to those programmes as yet. Prof Ken Julien, who is the chairman of UTT, they will soon be advertising, I guess by December, all their programmes and tuition.’

At Thursday’s post-Cabinet news conference, Minister of Housing, Planning and the Environment Emily Dick-Forde said the maintenance contract for the $480 million mega-structure had not been finalised.

’The maintenance contract has not been finalised and therefore I would not have any information on the cost to maintain (it), and because that has not been done, you do not know who is going to do it,’ Dick-Forde said.