THA's Rockly Bay stage paved, EMA approval still pending

MANAGING director of the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) Hayden Romano says the authority is in discussions with the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) about the construction of a stage in the sea.

Last week, Romano told Newsday infrastructural projects, including a stage in the sea at Rockly Bay, Tobago, were being done without certificates of environmental clearance.

Chief Secretary Farley Augustine had assured the public the stage is "environmentally safe" and will be a permanent structure which can host "future public street parties (and) street cultural items."

Questioned about the lack of EMA approval, THA Infrastructure secretary Trevor James had said, "What we are trying to do is host a carnival in a few weeks....We at the assembly are trying to execute these works in short order, and sometimes as a state agency, we believe it might be challenging to go through every single step that is required. If that has to be done, then we won't be able to accomplish all that we set out to do."

The inaugural Tobago carnival officially gets under way on Friday and will conclude on Sunday.

The parade of the bands is scheduled for Sunday.

Political leader of the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) and former deputy chief secretary Watson Duke has criticised the THA for undertaking the project without EMA approval.

In an interview with Newsday on Wednesday morning, Romano said while there have still been no approvals for the stage as "these things don't just happen with the snap of a finger," the THA met with the EMA last Friday.

"...And they promised to get some information back to us in terms of what they had done.

"So we are still waiting on that and when we get that, it will determine how our investigation proceeds."

Despite the lack of EMA approval, work on the project has continued.