Land acquisition in Canaan/Bon Accord ‘traumatic’

PUBLIC Relations Officer of the PNM Tobago Council Kwesi DesVignes has described plans by Government to acquire 53 acres of property in the Canaan/Bon-Accord area for the construction of a new terminal and associated works at the ANR International Airport as a “traumatising experience.”

Responding to questions by reporters at Thursday’s PNM Tobago Council press briefing at the PNM’s Scarborough office, DesVignes, who serves in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) as Secretary in the Division of Infrastructure, Quarries and the Environment, said he empathises with residents.

“No matter what, this is a traumatizing time. I empathise with the residents…I said it time and time again, it’s not easy, it is not easy and that is why we have to ensure that that the residents get the right information.

“So, its easy to take advantage of the emotions of people at this time because anything they hear, they consider to be true and whether it from a legitimate or illegitimate source, when people repeat it enough it becomes facts. We have to be very careful… its troubling that persons are really exploiting the emotions of persons,” he said.

This comes on the heels of a silent protest on Wednesday by residents of Canaan/Bon Accord outside the compound of the Division of Tourism, Culture and Transportation in Scarborough downed with placards, as the members of the THA Executive Council held their weekly meeting on the inside.

“If it is you want water in your tap, do you go to T&TEC? If you want information and you want to be comforted and you want to get certain things, certain reassurances about the relocation and where you are going to go, who do you go to. Who are the legitimate representatives… and NIDCO as the executing agency, but persons are being encouraged… I am saying there is a process for getting the information.

“We would have made certain commitments; you would have seen Assemblyman Clarence Jacob there voicing his concerns as well. ACQ would have done the social survey, it was just completed. The social survey, we all agreed was an important tool for ensuring that the right information is there… so now that we have the precise information and we’ve said it time and time again, we are now going to have the compensation policy that we’ve agreed to,” he said.

He refuted claims of a breakdown of communication on the part of the Assembly, as he questioned “What more could have been said?”