East Trinidad ‘living behind God back’

THE Prime Minister said until the Valencia to Toco Link Road is built, the people in east Trinidad will "remain behind God back" in a developing TT.

Dr Rowley was speaking yesterday at the sod-turning ceremony for the construction of the road held at the Toco Old Road, Valencia.

He said it mattered not how long they shouted, who they blamed or who blamed them, the road represented the development for that part of the country. He said the people of Sangre Grande, some of whom built their fortunes on the cocoa economy, lost their place in the growth of the nation when other entities began to flourish.

"If you are not to be left behind, the national policies have to be adjusted to bring you on board. Some people saw the Cumuto to Manzanilla project as a crusade to be obstructed and we were accused of wasting money because they felt the people of Cumuto did not deserve that kind of expenditure. We had to go to court and spend millions of dollars to defend the government to be given the legal right to proceed.

"This Government did not give up and this Government will not give up because we believe in the rectitude of our cause. If not this project, which one? And if not now, then when? If not PNM, who will do it?" Rowley said no project was cheap and the allocation they were making for this road was not guess work.

He said it was most depressing to read that in this part of the country, with so much promise, residents were in fact, at the bottom of the economic barrel of TT.

"The reason for that is because of the paucity of the infrastructure. That is why the income in this area is the lowest because activity is the lowest. That is why the population growth in this area is suppressed, people are not coming here because there is nothing to do. There is no access, no infrastructure. If there is infrastructure that automatically makes possibilities available."

Rowley said the road will take people to the eastern and northern coasts, and in turn that will automatically bring local and international tourism into focus. He said it will bring access to other lands available, lands that will be used for more agriculture.

"I don't know who the farmers are, but once the access to the land is there, the hurdle will be crossed and the farmers will come. It will bring access to nature reserves, the forestry industry, oil and gas exploration that is taking place east of Sangre Grande and east off Tobago. If this is successful we could become as involved in oil and gas as Guayaguayare and Galeota because we are nearer geographically. We are cognisant that we do not want to ruin our economy, but we can have our environment and have our port."

The PM said Government was ensuring that they got the best value for money and were seeing to it that contractors competed for these jobs. He said there was a fundamental change in the way contracts were being awarded.

"The San Fernando to Pt Fortin Highway started by the last government... they gave the entire contract of $7 billion to one Brazilian contractor even though local contractors begged them not to do that, and to break it up into packages. They went ahead and gave one contractor the contract. The contractor went bankrupt and the project was stopped. It was restarted and broken up into packages and being done by local contractors.

"It may take time for it to blossom and to see the benefits, but the longest journey starts with the first step, and this is the first step in bringing the eastern part of Trinidad and Tobago into the economy."