Arima mayor to reach out to Asa Wright Nature Centre

Arima Mayor Cagney Casimire said the Arima Borough Corporation will reach out to the board of the Asa Wright Nature Centre to offer assistance as a matter of urgency. This follows the recent announcement of the closure of the centre’s eco lodge.

He said he was not aware of the difficulties being faced by the centre before the closure was announced.

“I wasn’t aware, the board wasn’t aware that they were having difficulties and they needed assistance. I would have loved if they had reached out to us before so we could have some dialogue with regards to keeping it open and ongoing.

“One of our thoughts is that we can have some of our school tours and we could have some Know Your Country tours with regards to Asa Wright. They have a fantastic facility there that we can use to be able to promote eco-tourism, and we can do that locally within the borough.”

Casimire said the corporation would also be approaching other entities to see how they could partner to assist.

“What we need to do, however, is to include our partners the Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation. It has to be a partnership with regards to the Arima Borough Corporation and the Asa Wright Nature Centre.

“One concern I would have, and I would have to discuss it with them, is that they are a trust and what sort of partnership we would form with the trust would have to be at their behest and at their direction.

“We will also talk to the Minister of Tourism to be able to get from him how we can also assist. This has to be a partnership like that, because we support local tourism.”