Damaged Pigeon Point Jetty to be repaired soon

THE iconic Pigeon Point Jetty remains inaccessible after damage sustained during the recent rough seas experienced nationally.

The jetty is currently cordoned off with caution tape as several planks of wood along the jetty are missing.

Chairman of the Pigeon Point Heritage Park board Nyron Leung said the issue is being addressed.

Leung said, “The rough seas have damaged the jetty and we are in the process right now of... awarding a contract to repair it."

Leung said the jetty was previously damaged and repairs had started when recent rough seas made things worse.

"We would have started the repairs to the jetty and then the others (planks) fell and totally wrecked the jetty, so right now we are seeking an intervention by way of awarding a contract to have the jetty repaired.”

He added: “We are sourcing funding and all of that, that is now behind us, so it is just to have the awarding of the contract. It’s an emergency so probably within the next two weeks, work should start.”

The last swells, he said “were coming into the New Year – that one caused the particular damage.”

Pigeon Point is arguably the most popular beach in Tobago having gained international recognition on several occasions.

But according to Leung, the jetty wasn’t the only damage caused by the sea swells.

“There were significant erosions on the sand – right now we’re still carting away sand and doing sand replacement in the area because we had a large embankment of sand at the bathroom facilities. We had to shovel out the whole facilities (from sand) that was brought up by the rough seas. It spanned across the road.”

He said there are also some light machineries doing work in the area at this time as they aim to get the beach back to a state of normalcy.

“To the southern end of the beach, we have some large sand embankment. On the northern end, we have significant erosion. So there was a lot of damage.”

Coastal erosion at Pigeon Point has been a cause for concern for the past two Tobago House of Assembly (THA) administrations.

A US$15 million CAF (development bank of Latin America) loan was secured by the previous administration to tackle coastal erosion at Pigeon Point, Grange Bay and Little Tobago.

Last month, the current Farley Augustine-led administration said the Little Tobago project was addressed using THA funds, so coastal erosion at Back Bay will be included instead.