The maintenance gas subsidy is becoming an "enormous strain on the Treasury", Finance Minister Winston Dookeran told Parliament yesterday.

He said while Government was committed to maintaining this subsidy, it has had to find $3.2 billion in 2010 in order to fund it.

"We will require financing mechanisms to handle that," he said, adding that it has created "some challenge to which we are fully committed".

The other challenge, he said, was that Government had to provide $2 billion to honour previous commitments made by the PNM government. He said investments by the previous regime were done through borrowings.

He outlined a few examples. Government had to extend a credit facility to UDeCOTT for outfitting the Waterfront Facility. He said Government had to underwrite $590 million to support this. On the Legal Affairs Towers project, another UDeCOTT project, Government had to a extend credit facility of $561 million, he said. (See Page 8) A $720 credit facility also had to be extended for the Chancery Lane Project, he said. He said Government also had to honour a $153 million loan facility of NEDCO, which oversaw the Rapid Rail project.

—Ria Taitt