He said the holdup, for another month or two is due to all kinds of problems but he anticipates the new timing to be August month end or mid-September, the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.

Nadir said the building that housed the Chess Hall, on Main Street, Georgetown, is no longer being considered as 100,000 euros have been made available by CARIFORUM for its preservation as a historic site.

"I'll give up on housing the Authority there, because we need to utilise that money before the end of the year and I'm strongly in favour of some other agency using it before we lose it," he said on the weekend GINA television programme 'Answers'.

Nadir said several options are being considered, one of them being at the National Exhibition Complex, Sophia, another part of Georgetown.

According to him, $20M has been allocated in the National Budget for the operations of TAB since the legislation was passed, paving the way for its establishment.

Among the responsibilities of the Board will be to advertise the relevant vacancies, including that of Chief Executive Officer.

Minister Nadir said he is looking forward to taking the proposed list of TAB members to Cabinet before month end and he is very optimistic that they should be in place soon and select staff.

He said the Authority would work better than a Government department in promoting tourism here and help speed up the decision making process for executing its mandate.