COP head wants housing policy review after floods

Congress of the People (COP) political leader Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan is calling for an investigation into the criteria used to select sites for housing developments.

In a media statement she cited the flooding at the Greenvale housing development in La Horquetta, which she said had been started under a previous PNM administration and continued under the PP government.

She said the constituency is regarded as marginal and the keys to the development were handed out in 2014, the year before a general election, by former housing minister Dr Roodal Moonilal.

She said National Security Minister Stuart Young has been quoted as saying water from the Northern Range as well as all of the water through La Horquetta would end up in the Greenvale area.

“What then were the criteria for selection of the site?” she wanted to know. “What policy enabled the land use change within the area? Was there significant flooding in the area prior to the selection? What hydrological studies have been conducted? Was there an EIA? What mitigation did the EIA suggest? What climate models were used to project rainfall patterns and potential risk?”

She said the incident once again exemplified “the failure of our governance system and the effect of political expediency over sound management principles and engineering.”

She said the continued failure of almost all of the state enterprises is evident, with legacy projects now unviable, as the State’s inability to respond sufficiently has caused “great distress and anxiety amongst the population.”

“We are now paying for the misdeeds of every administration which has assumed office since independence. The two- party system has entrapped the electorate and has compromised and exploited the people, all for the sake of votes by voter padding in marginal seats.”

The residents of the development, she said, “have endured life-threatening experiences and tremendous hardship following the floods. The deep psychological anguish which follows is difficult to even imagine.” All this serves to underscore, she argued, was the urgent need for proportional representationto elect a new Parliament of, for and by the people.

The Congress of the People is therefore calling for “a thorough investigation as it relates to the decision to select these sites for residential development. More importantly, she concouded, “this country needs a new system of government that breeds a new type of politician if this country is to see progress.”