CONSTRUCTION has begun on the highway from Valencia to Toco and it will be completed by 2022, promised Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan.

“By 2022 you will be able to drive all the way from Valencia to Toco on a state-of-the-art highway,” he said during the virtual PNM meeting in Sangre Grande on Thursday.

He said the eastern seaboard was neglected by previous administrations but now it has been given highways, boardwalks and other infrastructural developments.

“Five years ago on the eastern seaboard we had the least opportunities and (people living in these areas) were the lowest paid. We were left behind while the rest of the country was going forward. I had the responsibility for most of (the last) five years. The eastern seaboard got the most of the budget, and it was because we deserved it.”

He said the UNC used money from the National Gas Company to develop infrastructure in the country.

“They used the NGC to spend $18 billion dollars, and what they got for it was nothing. They didn’t get value for money. We can’t allow them to interfere with our national institutions or we will be doomed. And their policy is to interfere with the stable financial institutions in the country.

“It is not about red or yellow, as citizens of this country the choice is yours,” he said