Paray: No plan to fight flooding

Mayaro MP Rushton Paray is lamenting poor preparation and coordination by State agencies to reduce flooding damage ahead of the rainy season.

He was speaking yesterday as a member of Parliament’s Joint Select Committee (JSC) on Land and Physical Infrastructure sitting at Tower D, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain.

The JSC interviewed Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government headed by permanent secretary Dedra Bascombe.

Paray said a shortage of funds or staff was no excuse for inaction.

He lamented that the ministry and Ministry of Works and Transport lack coordination in planning for flooding, but left it to regional corporations.

“I get the sense it is up to regional bodies to determine what they’re going to do with it, but if the parent organisation, the ministry, doesn’t really have a hand or a say, I feel that’s a big disconnect there.”

Lamenting a huge disconnect between agencies, he said he now expects a repeat of last year’s flooding in his Mayaro constituency.