Chief Sec: Tobagonians not treated with dignity at Port of Spain port

THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine has slammed what he considers poor treatment often meted out to Tobagonians and other travellers at the Port of Port of Spain.

He was speaking on Tuesday at a stakeholder consultation on inter-island transportation and connectivity at Mt Irvine Bay Resort, Tobago.

Augustine said even before boarding vessels, passengers are not properly catered for. He said they often have to make a “mad dash” across Wrightson Road to get to the port.

“They built a walkover nearby, but they did not even consider the travellers between Trinidad and Tobago, to think that there needs to be a solution at Wrightson Road…You who coming from Tobago has to still make that dash across the road. Nobody really care about you.”

Augustine said when the passengers get to the port, they have to “stand up under a tent in the sun and rain in the most undignified manner.

“It baffles me why, in this day and age, you have to be herded under a tent like cattle. Rain come, sun come, and you under a tent squeeze up. You just stand up there under a tent because the facilities might be too good for you to wait in.”