Rough road to compensation for some in Tobago airport project

Residents of Block D of the ANR Robinson Airport expansion project in Crown Point are complaining about being corralled into a dust bowl while still awaiting compensation packages for their homes.

They say plans to permanently close the southern part of Silk Cotton Trace would leave them severely inconvenienced and put their lives at risk in the event of an emergency.

Last Thursday, residents said they were given a second notice about the permanent closure of the road on August 8.

The notice said that the road’s closure was documented in the Trinidad and Tobago Gazette and the Division of Infrastructure, Quarries and Environment notice of June 25, 2021.

The residents previously received a letter from China Railway Construction Caribbean Ltd noting the road south at the TSTT Exchange at Store Bay Local Road to the intersection with Crompton Trace would be permanently closed to the public on July 1. However, that did not happen.

In an interview with Newsday on Monday, Provide Equitable Equivalent Compensation for Everyone (PEECE) movement member Wolwin Lovell said: “It really is sad to know that they’re coming to block the road and people still living here.”

He said the road closure could have disastrous consequences if done prematurely.

“This is the main entrance to come down inside here...If there is a fire inside here, the fire truck have to come inside here, the ambulance have to come inside here too.

"It’s very, very uncomfortable to deal with a situation like that.”

Lovell made it clear that the residents do not opposed the airport expansion project.

“The righteous thing to do is to compensate all the residents that are living in here, then when the people move out you can be able to block off the road – do what you want to do."

He said the ongoing works are a health hazard to the remaining residents.

“Right now, we are suffering with the dust; they have excavators running in front my yard, in front the road here digging up the road, digging up all the pitch road. We have to undergo this; the dust affecting us, everybody in here – because they’re doing their operations like they don’t care.”

He added, "Presently, we live in here and we feel the pain – we are willing to move.”

He said the remaining residents have submitted their documents for compensation to their property but are yet to receive any feedback from Nidco.

“Well, just pay us. Call us in and pay us off. Let us get our pay package now.”

Chairperson of the PEECE movement, Rhonda Hackett, said over 15 families would be affected by the road closure

“The feedback that I have been getting is mixed – most people are not pleased with the closure as it poses an inconvenience to them, and that would be in terms of the majority. This road closure means that both pedestrian and drivers would have to seek alternative means to navigate.

"For the pedestrian, definitely it would mean a greater challenge having to walk to the other end and then it also become harder to access transportation from that route. So, it’s a much harder journey that they would have to take, and I don’t know if the taxis would now charge them extra to have to drive all the way around.”

She claimed the residents are being taken advantage of and called on the government to find a swift solution.

"There is always a better way once you have humans’ best interest at heart, This project is not an overnight project, and it is one that would take years. I am seeing a clear indication of advantage and abuse of persons' vulnerability.

"On all sides, the residents are being squeezed.”

But one woman, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said some residents' claims are being disputed as compensation for their land had already been paid over two decades ago by the government.

She said, “The previous acquisition that took place in the area, which is over 20 years ago, there were some persons who received payments, but several of those individuals have long moved out and there are also persons who are currently living there that have never received nor accepted payment from the government."

She said that specific project was abandoned and believes the government should begin fresh negotiations for the land.

“That specific project takes on a different metamorphosis than this current project – it is a different scheme and regime. It encompasses a different area and a different plan and that previous project was altered and abandoned.

“The current government, which is the same party that was responsible for the acquisition then, is trying to piggyback on the operations over 20-something years ago and seek to use it. That was then, and it is grossly unfair to even consider using that as a statement and not want to pay persons."

Attempts to contact Nidco officials for comment on the situation proved futile as all calls went unanswered.

THA Chief Secretary Ancil Dennis said on Monday he was “awaiting the status of the compensation situation with them.”