EDUCATION Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh says the $83 million to provide laptops for successful Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) pupils is not as exorbitant as some people believe.

He said the cost worked out to approximately $4,000 per computer, which had a number of special features, and Government was able to lower costs by eliminating the middle man.

"And this, in any best practice around the world, compares with some of the developed countries as far as computerisation for students and (the) digital divide," Gopeesingh said during the post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair yesterday.

He said the $4,000 cost involved all the software features as well as transport, storage and all fees associated with importing computers.

On the controversy surrounding the cost, Gopeesingh said it was being fuelled by agents of computer manufacturers.

"There are a number of people who have their own agenda in this country, who...are agents of certain manufacturers, and they will...(be) obviously having a field day to try to bring negative aspects to this."

He said Government went directly to manufacturers Hewlett-Packard (HP) and eliminated middlemen in Trinidad and that additional cost.

On Tuesday, Gopeesingh announced 20,400 laptops were ordered from Hewlett-Packard and were expected to arrive in T&T by mid-September. Yesterday, he noted the company was the preferred bidder and also the lowest, though the price difference between all those who submitted was a margin of about US$30 to $40.

He said some of the laptops will be going to teachers as they would require them in the teaching process.

Questioned about the estimated cost of the project of 45 million dollars which he gave on July 15, Gopeesingh said this figure was only for the hardware costs. He said the additional software systems was what accounted for the increase in cost.