Sinanan: Port of Spain evacuation plan being worked on

WORKS and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan said a proper evacuation plan for Port of Spain is being developed.

He made this disclosure during his contribution to the budget debate in the Senate on Friday.

Sinanan recalled that heavy rains on Wednesday caused street and flash flooding in Port of Spain and brought traffic to a standstill.

He said during situations like these, there is "always a bottleneck and a lockdown trying to get out of the city."

Addressing an evacuation plan for Port of Spain, Sinanan said, "This is something that has been on the drawing board for a while."

He added this was not a project only being done by his ministry.

"A major part of the driving force (for the plan) is really the Ministry of National Security with the ODPM (Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management)."

"We do have a plan. We do have a build-out, a framework for it which we are trying to now plug. So finally we can have an evacuation plan."

Sinanan said the framework of the plan identifies the Priority Bus Route, Lady Young Road and the Beetham Highway as three routes which can be used to evacuate Port of Spain.

"The plan is to manage these roads with proper enforcement so that when traffic has to come out of PoS, the majority of the road network will be used to bring people out of Port of Spain."

Sinanan hoped to receive a draft plan from the ministry's traffic management division and send it to the National Security Ministry.

He said Government was proud of its efforts to upgrade the nation's highways.

Government senators thumped their desks as he mentioned the Solomon Hochoy Highway Extension Project.

At the commissioning ceremony for the project on October 14, the Prime Minister said while tenders were received for the project in April 2010, the PNM government did not award a contract before May 24, 2010 – the date on which it lost the general election to the People's Partnership.

On February 20, 2011, then works and transport minister Jack Warner announced the award of the contract in Parliament.

Sinanan said this was "the largest project ever done in TT."

He added, "It is only the PNM that could have a vision for a project like this."

Sinanan said earlier this year, the first phase of the Valencia to Toco Highway was opened.

By the end of next April, he continued, the Churchill Roosevelt Highway will be extended to Guaico.

"Work continues on that highway."

Sinanan recalled that a highway from Port of Spain to Sangre Grande was promised 60 years ago.

"We are on track. By 2025, there will be an additional route to enter Sangre Grande."

He also said Government has a national transportation programme which it is using to improve the quality of public transportation. Sinanan added that this did not only involve buying more buses for the Public Transport Service Corporation. (PTSC).

Earlier in the sitting, Government Senator Laurel Lezama Lee Sing slammed Opposition Senator Wade Mark for claiming the sky was falling under the PNM.

She said the extension of the licence issued by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for TT to access natural gas from the Dragon gas field in Venezuela is one of many reasons why "the PNM is the best thing to happen to the people of TT."