Rohan Sinanan: Million$ wasted on flood plans by former govts

WORKS and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan said millons of dollars have been wasted over time by previous governments on flood plans which were never implemented to address flooding in TT.

Sinanan made those statements while responding to a question from the Opposition in the House of Representatives on Friday.

Referring to a US $495,000 ($3.37million) grant which Government received from the Andean Development Bank in March 2020 for the development of a flood management master plan, Sinanan said, "The national drainage plan was divided into two strategic plans, out of which will flow projects for development."

Approximately 20 projects have been identified for design, review and tender preparation.

Sinanan said, "These projects are in various stages of development."

Responding to a question from Oropouche West MP Davendranath Tancoo, Sinanan said while the CAF grant was for one plan, the projects he mentioned were part of that plan."

"It's an ongoing process. You don't have to wait for the plan to be completed."

For clarification, he reiterated, "The plan is an ongoing plan and projects coming out of the plan have already started to be developed."

Tancoo asked if the CAF grant was being spent on matters that were unrelated to flooding.

Sinanan recalled that when he first became minister on October 31, 2016, he found 20 drainage plans going all the way back to the 1960's.

"They were all plans and a lot of money was spent. Millions of dolllars was spent on these plans and they were not operational plans in place."

These included plans under the PP.

Sinanan told MPs that when Government approached the CAF, "they took all these plans and created an operation plan to be funded by the CAF."

Several flood studies were never done on certain parts of TT over time.

He said, "What is coming out of this process is actual 'boots on the ground' in certain areas where plans have been completed."

Sinanan disclosed no flood study was ever done for Trinidad's western peninsula.

"The plan is an ongoing plan for areas where no study was ever done."

He said because of Government's approach "this is why you have a lot of work going on in the Caroni area."

Sinanan added there was a flood study done for Caroni.

Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George disallowed a question from Barataria/San Juan MP Saddam Hosein about flood pumps as it was not related to the matter at hand.

Sinanan also provided updates on river desilting and road works in different parts of TT.

Later in the sitting, Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales, in response to another question from Tancoo, said the UNC had no moral authority to question what Government was doing to improve the water supply to the population.

Under the UNC-led People's Partnership (PP) coalition government's time, Gonzales said no new water pipelines were put down anywhere in TT after the PP accessed a billion dollar loan from the Inter-American Development Bank.

Government MPs thumped their desks when Gonzales declared this was why people in many opposition controlled constituencies today are complaining about no water or an irregular water supply.