While he did not divulge the findings of a report on what caused a Trinidad-wide blackout in February, Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales says he has finished reading the report, saying it made several valuable recommendations.

On February 16 Trinidad experienced a blackout which lasted for several hours.

A committee consisting of former chairman of the TT Electricity Commission (T&TEC) Keith Sirju and acting police Supt Allister Guevarro was appointed by the Prime Minister to find the cause of the blackout.

Responding to questions after signing a memorandum of understanding on rainwater harvesting at his Tragarete Road, office on Thursday, Gonzales said the Prime Minister gave him a copy of the report on Tuesday and asked him to "urgently read it."

Gonzales said the report contained a lot of information and he only finished reading it on Thursday morning, but could not reveal details.

He did note that he was not surprised by the committee's findings and promised it would be useful in future activities.

"We have been very straightforward with the country with respect to the information that was available to us on the cause of the blackout.

"I'm happy to say that nothing in that report suggests that we were fundamentally wrong in the report that we put forward to the national community on the cause of the blackout.

"But there's a lot to learn from this, and I will await the instructions of the Prime Minister and the decision of the Cabinet on how we intend to move forward.

"It's not going to be a report that is going to gather dust on shelves. There are some notable recommendations and we intend to act on those recommendations to protect the national interests, and that's all I'm prepared to say for now on this."

Gonzales was critical of Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) president general Ancel Roget, who claimed the blackout was caused by a fallen tree.

Describing Roget and Princes Town MP Barry Padarath who accused the government of hiding the report, as "noisemakers," Gonzales said it was unfortunate and irresponsible for such comments to be made before the report could be completed.

"I think by now we have a clear idea as to the noisemakers in the society and people who are not willing to allow due process and things to take its natural course before we make irresponsible statements and accuse people of hiding information and what-have-you.

"Interestingly the day after (Padarath) made the accusation, the committee completed its work and handed the report to the Prime Minister. We will act as a responsible government."

Gonzales said he would attend a Cabinet meeting on Thursday afternoon, when a decision would be made on what would be done after receiving the report.

The post Public Utilities Minister: Blackout report valuable appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

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