South held hostage by the horrific daily traffic

THE EDITOR: Here in the South most of us have to head north to earn a living or conduct business. If you do not leave in the dark you will never arrive to your destination on time. The dreaded Mosquito Creek literally holds you hostage as there is no alternative route without going completely out of your way.

Once we pass the creek, we then have to deal with the dreaded highway where a number of things can further delay your commute: accidents, police operations or people simply cruising.

What baffles me most is that it is estimated that a great percentage of the people working in Port of Spain actually come from the South. No one in power has thought to decentralise government services, thus reducing the traffic into the capital. Instead, the Government continues to build and rent offices in Port of Spain, further worsening our horrific traffic crisis.

We in the South can easily spend three to six hours commuting to and from work to earn a dollar, a great percentage of which is spent on gas or taxi fare. If the purpose of government is to benefit the citizenry, how come no one has a plan to release the citizens from this daily nightmare?

Why is everything in this country considered from a north perspective? What about the rest of the country? Again, the citizens of the South remain an afterthought when it comes to infrastructure and planning. And no, the Point Fortin Highway is not going to solve our problems.

Further adding to our commute problems are some of the worst roads in the country. So on top of the gas bill our car maintenance costs are high as we are forever hitting or dodging potholes. When will the authorities begin to think of the entire citizenry in this country instead of a few.

MICHELLE DYMALLY DAVIS

Cedros