Activist: Make Arouca a town

“Make Arouca a town,” was the call of Stan Huggins, the head of the Township Committee for Arouca on Friday during a conversation with Newsday reporters.

The committee head visited Newsday’s Pembroke Street office and said the district, which includes Piarco, Bon Air, and even parts of Lopinot, was deserving of the title of a township but since the committee began lobbying after its inception in 2011, their calls have fallen on deaf ears.

“We want to make Arouca a town, and we want the authorities to take it seriously,” Huggins said.

“We need a corporation of our own to handle our affairs and a mayor to lead them. We have what it takes to be a town, but no one is paying us any mind.”

Currently, there are about 300,000 people who live in Arouca.

According to Huggins, the district also holds the national airport in Piarco, and the largest mall in Trincity.

Huggins also pointed out that Arouca housed the Golden Grove prison, and one of the largest community developments in the country.

“We have four top secondary schools as well,” said Huggins, “Whenever we land by air in TT we are virtually landing in Arouca, because the airport is at its edge.”

Huggins knocked the neglect of the government saying they don’t have basic infrastructural buildings, like a bus terminal. He called on the government to begin putting up buildings that would allow the district to evolve.

“We need an administrative complex, a farmer’s market, a bus terminal, a sports stadium a hospital and a public library, to name a few things.”