New gov't services for Roxborough

Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles commended the people of Tobago east for their patience, after waiting many years for an administrative complex and relying on government services in Scarborough.

During the commissioning of the Roxborough Administrative Complex on Thursday afternoon, on the Windward Main Road, Charles said the complex will transform and lift a burden from the lives of those living on the east, especially senior and disabled citizens. “You have been patient, you have been accommodating, you have been understanding and, Tobago, you are being rewarded for your quiet persistence.

“This complex has been dear to my heart simply because its operations would lift a heavy burden off the shoulders of you, the residents, and your neighbours ,especially our senior citizens and the differently-abled."

He said it was becoming popular for countries to decentralise major services "away from busy overly congested and very polluted cities to convenient and easily accessible locations" and he believed Tobago must not be left behind "when it comes to adopting these new ways of growing and changing societies.”

The construction of the complex started in 2017 July and ended in April of this year at a cost of $33 million.

Roxborough, which has always been considered the second town of the island, was described as a community of potential by Charles, who urged its residents to continue to grow and build their community.

Services available at the complex include grant and loan funding services from Business Development Unit, a Registrar General's department, the Elections and Boundaries Commission, Rural Development unit, a unit from the Division of Tourism and Culture, TTPost, Public Health and Social Welfare, T&TEC, the Board of Inland Revenue and the Licensing Department. Charles said the people of the area can now access government services without having to go through the inconvenience of travelling almost an hour to access these services.

“Today is a new dawn for Roxborough and the people of the east. The commissioning of this facility is testament to the adding of much to the people who previously had little.”

Charles also spoke of the new Roxborough fire station, with a budget of $36 million, and a police station with a budget of $50 million, currently under construction and near completion. This transformation includes a $60 million hospital.

The development of Tobago east will also include more than 22 access roads and finishing the refurbishment of the Cyd Gray Complex, all focused towards converting Roxborough into an urban centre that ultimately represents a physical transformation of the east, Charles said.

“As we seek to develop the island we must develop the capacity of our people and that is why the Division of Education would have introduced a certificate construction programme designed to provide certification for those persons who are in specialised fields...We are playing our part and we want you the parents, young people and villagers to also play your part.”