Manzan highway stopped again

ENVIRONMENTAL activist group Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS) has succeeded, yet again, in stopping the first phase of the $400-million five-kilometre Churchill Roosevelt Highway extension between Cumuto and Guaico.

The lobby group yesterday got leave to take its challenge to the Privy Council and also received another injunction stopping all construction on the highway until the hearing and determination of that appeal.

In an oral ruling yesterday, Justices of Appeal Rajendra Narine, Prakash Moosai and Charmaine Pemberton held that the FFOS had a genuine and legitimate dispute with an arguable appeal to take to the Privy Council. They granted the injunction on the basis that any damage to the environmentally sensitive Aripo Savannas forest reserve would be irreparable and impossible to compensate.

The judges said FFOS’ challenged justified the grant of conditional leave to this country’s highest court of appeal to determine how certain provisions of the Environmental Management Act 2000 should be interpreted.

The judges also rejected an argument that the FFOS should give an undertaking in damages to compensate the State and its contractor, since the group was a non-profit organisation acting in the public’s interest in the protection of the environment.

FFOS welcomed the ruling, especially since in the past the appellate court has refused to grant any injunction halting work already commenced.

Attorneys representing FFOS said they intended to seek an expedited hearing at the Privy Council.

FFOS was represented by Anand Ramlogan, SC, Jayanti Lutchmedial, Alvin Pariagsingh and Ganesh Saroop, instructed by Robert Abdoo-Mitchell. The EMA was represented by Deborah Peake, SC, Ravi Heffes-Doon, Amira Rahaman, instructed by Jenelle Partap, and Giselle Landeau-Birmingham. Kallco was represented by Douglas Mendes SC, and Devesh Maharaj instructed by Kandace Bharat. The Ministry of Works was represented by Ian Benjamin and Svetlana Dass.

Last month, the Court of Appeal, in a majority ruling, dismissed the FFOS’ legal challenge to the construction of the highway. The FFOS challenged the process used by the EMA for granting a certificate of environmental clearance (CEC) for phase one of the project, claiming it was procedurally flawed and failed to consider alternative routes which would have less impact on the environment and communities. FFOS also argued the work was affecting the Aripo Savannas reserve, which the EMA declared an environmentally sensitive area in 2007.