Imbert: Court may settle Tobago airport land dispute

CLINT CHAN TACK and STEPHON NICHOLAS

FINANCE Minister Colm Imbert said his ministry is investigating reports that people in Tobago may be asking for compensation for lands they are occupying, in relation to the expansion of the ANR Robinson International Airport in Crown Point, which they may not be entitled to. Imbert said the matter is not simple and it may require a final determination by a court of law.

At a virtual news conference hosted by his ministry on Monday, Imbert said $180 million have already been paid out for acquisition of lands for the project. But Imbert acknowledged the process, particularly in section D of the project, has been complicated.

Imbert said, "There is a particular section in the area of land to be acquired...and in that particular section there is some confusion as to whether these lands were already acquired and paid for by the State many years ago. I have several reports giving dates of payments, dates of acquisition of some of the lands in that section D.

"Quite a bit was already paid for and published as a section 5 notice (to vacate)."

Tobago West MP Shamfa Cudjoe, at a function last week, addressed the issue noting there was an instance of a man claiming compensation for a property which his deceased father had already been paid for by the State, over a decade ago.

Although part of the agreement was to vacate the property, some landowners settled with the State and never left.

Imbert said, "It's a very complicated thing and it may have to be adjudicated by a competent authority like a court of law, to determine what are the facts." Imbert said his ministry is investigating the matter now that it is in the public domain. "Whatever information we establish, will be published, so that people can see what the facts are."

Responding to the news that some residents' claims may be legally challenged, Provide Equitable Compensation for Everyone (PEECE) movement chairperson, Rhonda Hackett, told Newsday the government was treating people too harshly.

"They are using the bluntness of the law. They are not using the spirit of the law," she said.

Although she did not hear Imbert's comments live, she said, "I saw an article in the Newsday where the parliamentary representative (Cudjoe) spoke on the issue where persons were paid over 20 years ago.

"When you reflect on the statement, you are speaking about over a generation ago. Persons who have died and moved on."

Hackett said people who remained on the properties have invested time and money since the 1996 land acquisition process.

"The current situation is: people are still living in the area, paid (utilities) for the property in the area.

"The government never took acquisition. There have been individuals who have never been paid or accepted compensation. The project, since 20 years to now, has been altered, shifted, and abandoned to the point where we had another government with an alternative proposal. This new PNM administration has returned with a new airport construction proposal with part and new areas, stretching past what was said previously."

Hackett urged the government to look at how Evolving TecKnologies and Enterprise Development Company (eTecK) was handling an issue of alleged squatters in the path of the Phoenix Park Industrial Estate development. The company recently held a meeting to discuss possible compensation to the residents.

"You would have paid their forefathers. The government is piggybacking on a project that was abandoned. It is callous, cold, and inhumane. That is not how you deal with your residents and citizens. Those people are dead and buried."