Government approves $160m water plan

Government has approved a $160 million water plan intended to provide 90 per cent of the country with a reliable water supply by 2025.

Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales announced the plan on March 25 at the commissioning of the Bad Hill, Plymouth Pipeline Development Project.

Gonzales said communities in Wallerfield, Valencia, Aripo, Clarke Road, Chatham, Palo Seco, Granville, Freeport and Signal Hill in Tobago would benefit.

“Fourteen wells will be drilled over the next 12 months to continue to provide the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago with a reliable supply of water,” he said.

He said under an Inter-American Development Bank-funded programme, six wells will also be drilled in Freeport, Tucker Valley and other areas, bringing the total to approximately 20 wells to be drilled.

“That is in addition to your new water treatment plant in Goldsborough, which will have a capacity to provide two million gallons of water per day.”

He said there are usually reports around Easter about the woes faced by residents and visitors in the southwestern part of Tobago.

“Because of that, we undertook a series of interventions and projects, identifying those unserved and under-served communities; constructing booster stations; constructing new water pipelines; upgrading booster stations; desilting of the Hillsborough Dam; constructing a new transmission line from Signal Hill to Crown Point.

“All of these projects have brought Tobago to a place where it is almost, if not a model region for the entire country.”

The well-development programme, he said, is one of the Water and Sewerage Authority’s (WASA’s) most successful programmes.

“So much so that last year we have broken records in drilling nine successful wells in regions and communities all over TT. To date, this Bad Hill well project is now providing not only the people of southwest Tobago but of the Hillsborough system (as well) with a reliable supply of water.

“When the two other wells come into being, this area will be provided with over 600,000 gallons of water per day, supplementing the shortfall – especially in the dry season – of the Courland system, as well as providing the support of the Hillsborough system.”

He added: “Tobago is marching towards a place where all of its citizens and all of its residents would have a secure water supply for the next ten years.”

Asked the cost of the Bad Hill project, he said: “This project cost $8 million. This is an $8 million investment for the people of Tobago.”

Tobago West MP Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis said the project has left her feeling proud as a resident and an MP. She said on March 24, she read a newspaper article from 2016 titled Water woes in Tobago, which reported the comments and the concerns of hoteliers in the Bon Accord/Crown Point area.

“So we had situations in the month of July/August, in April, around Easter time.

“To date...the works done by WASA, especially the delivery of the booster station in Shirvan, and the works done to benefit southwest Tobago, even the desilting of the Hillsborough Dam – though located in the east – helped with delivering water to Tobago West.”

Reservoirs not at crisis level

Despite the country experiencing the “worst drought” in recent memory, Gonzales said the reservoirs are not in crisis.

On March 5, WASA announced new water supply restrictions as well as a hose ban in effect until June.

Gonzales said, “The reservoirs are not in a state of crisis, they are at a level where it is very consistent with the dry conditions...

“So most of (the reservoirs) are within their long-term average, and I cannot point to any reservoir that is in the red zone as yet.”

The country’s four reservoirs are Hillsborough, Caroni-Arena, Hollis and Navet. Asked about the effectiveness of WASA’s conservation measures, he said: “By and large, the country has responded positively. People are doing what they’re supposed to do.”

Padarath: Water plan is 'repeated election gimmickry'

UNC MP Barry Padarath has described plans by the Government to provide a reliable water supply to 90 per cent of TT by 2025 as “election gimmickry and electioneering.”

Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales announced the $160 million plan in Tobago on Monday.

In a telephone interview with Newsday, Padarath, the Princes Town MP, said these projects are not new, but are intended to sweeten the population ahead of the general election and THA elections, both constitutionally due in 2025.

“They have been on the books and have been previously announced. The IDB had given the government a loan of $88 million and that loan was secured almost three to four years ago, and the minister has admitted that they have not utilised that loan.

“So I’ve always said that this government has an implementation deficit – that’s their greatest challenge. So they secure the funding, they announce the project, but they’re never able to implement the project.”

He said last week, the government came to Parliament requesting to approve a $10 billion loan for developmental funding.

“I raised at that point with the honourable minister, for him to tell us which projects this $10 billion for the development loan would address. So while the minister announces – these are repeated projects.

“The minister also told us two years ago – March 2022 – that TT would get ten water modulated treatment plants and this would be the (panacea) to the water woes in the country. He promised that the first one would have been delivered October 2022 – since then, no water modulated treatment plant has been delivered across the length and breadth of TT.”

He added, “ So we are going into a general election year, a lot of focus would be placed on Tobago as it is in Trinidad. I know that the PNM, at this point in time, they are scrambling for their life in Tobago still, and they desperately need those two Tobago seats to form the government.

"So over the next few weeks and coming months, we would see a lot more ministers coming to make these grand announcements that are really repeated announcements.”

This story has been updated to include additional details. See original story below.

THE Government has approved a $160 million water plan intended to provide 90 per cent of the country with a reliable water supply by 2025.

Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales announced the plan at the commissioning of the Bad Hill, Plymouth Pipeline Development project on March 25.

Gonzales said because of the programme, communities in Wallerfield, Valencia, Aripo, Clarke Road, Chatham, Palo Seco, Granville, Freeport and Signal Hill in Tobago would benefit.

“Fourteen wells will be drilled over the next 12 months to continue to provide the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago with a reliable supply of water,” he said.

He said under an Inter-American Development Bank-funded programme, six wells will also be drilled in Freeport, Tucker Valley and other areas, bringing the total to approximately 20 wells to be drilled over that period of time.