Rough landing for Tobago airport project

The Piarco International Airport seems ready for the resumption of widespread air travel, as it was recently rated one of the best and cleanest airports in the Central American and Caribbean region by the Skytrax World Airport Awards – awards that track customer satisfaction.

But while Piarco has been flying high, the ANR Robinson International Airport expansion project has been having a rough landing.

Residents of an area designated as Block D this month complained of delays in compensation for land acquisition and poorly co-ordinated measures in relation to roads, as well as hazards caused by being forced, they say, to live with ongoing construction by the contractor, China Railway Construction Caribbean Ltd.

However, according to Tobago West MP Shamfa Cudjoe, 70 per cent of residents affected by the project have already been compensated. She said each property had to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, and in one instance both a father and son have claimed for compensation for the same land.

The State has already paid a total of about $180 million in compensation, according to Minister of Finance Colm Imbert. In addition to this expense, there may now also be further legal costs, given the possibility of litigation to untangle the issues that have emerged.

The Finance Minister’s promise that details will be published in relation to the ongoing process is reassuring and in line with the spirit of the land-acquisition process, which, notwithstanding the fact that it involves private landowners, is a public one.

Thus far, the entire process highlights deficiencies of various aspects of state governance: the statutory process by which land is acquired and residents compensated; the record-keeping and policies of key government agencies; the regulation of squatting; the perennial problems in Tobago relating to land title; the availability of information for members of the public in relation to land acquisition; as well as the problems that occur when mega-projects straddle governments.

Some of the land in this project was acquired by the State since 1996. It is worrying that the State must now go over already-trodden ground and deal with property which might now be newly encumbered owing to the State’s own failure to enforce the terms of previous acquisitions, as well as the laws relating to squatting.

Though costly, resorting to court seems be the surest, fairest, most impartial way out of the mess in relation to problematic cases.

But how much more will have to be spent without any end result? What of potentially costly contractual issues with the contractor due to delay?

It is ironic these issues have emerged at a moment when some believe the heyday of international travel is over, not only because of the after-effects of covid19, but also due to the need to reduce carbon emissions by moving away from the use of aeroplanes.

Still, there is hope tourism will rebound and the airport issues will be ironed out without needless expense.