Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Tertiary Education and Skills Training, Senator the Honourable Fazal Karim, and Minister of Energy and Energy Affairs, Senator the Honourable Kevin Ramnarine, have attended the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the National Energy Skills Centre (NESC) and the National Gas Company (NGC) on October 15, which allows for the training of individuals in the maintenance of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) -powered vehicles.
Minister Karim said at the ceremony: “CNG will fuel the energy industry and education minds of the people of this country… What we do here today will energise the landscape of Trinidad and Tobago.”
He then directed his attention to Minister Ramnarine, asking that he consider deeper collaboration between their two Ministries, beginning with the expansion of the programme to qualify 100 persons within the next calendar year, as well as providing opportunities to those who are already working in the field through evening and weekend classes. “The facilities must be maximized to certify persons, utilizing the resources of NGC CNG Company Limited (NGC CNG) to bring the skills and talent of our people up to speed with international acceptance,” Minister Karim stated, “the diversification of our economy is not necessarily into the service industry, or moving away from oil and gas, it also hinges and is predicated on our human resource.”
Marking the signing of the MOU as an important undertaking, Minister Karim declared that the partnership between NESC and NGC would fit into the greater plans by Government to fulfil its manifesto. “What we do here today gives a statement to the national community that we are not simply talking CNG, we are building the capacity to deliver on that promise.”
In July this year, the Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs created a licence system under which CNG may be sold and vehicle conversions carried out. In May, NGC CNG executed a MoU with the National Petroleum Marketing Company Ltd (NP) and with the United Independent Petroleum Marketing Company Ltd (UNIPET) to facilitate upgraded CNG service, retrofitting and new CNG and mobile CNG locations for Phase I of the country’s CNG Initiative.
(Source: Government of Trinidad and Tobago)
