Warner demands action on squatting, infrastructure

Jack Warner says his constituents in Chaguanas West continue to experience "bias and neglect" despite assurances from Minister of Planning, Housing and the Environment Dr Emily Gaynor Dick-Forde that "all agricultural lands will be maintained by this Government".

The MP says this is clearly not so, noting that representatives from his office have documented evidence that problems with flooding of prime agricultural lands at Bridal Road in Cunupia have not be resolved.

Warner says he was shocked to learn that parcels of lands that were designated for development by the Estate Management Business Development Company Limited (EMBD) have been left in squalor.

He says although the government has allocated millions of dollars to the EMBD "the crushing assessment is that very little progress is seen in the lands being developed by the EMBD, which is disheartening if not a humiliating defeat of the purpose of the EMBD."

Warner suggests political bias in dealing with problems in central Trinidad. "It is no surprise that strides of development are taking place just on the opposite side of the street in Bridal Road, an area that falls in the Chaguanas East constituency." That constituency is held by the governing People's National Movement (PNM).

Warner is asking for an investigation into the functions and operations of the EMBD, since prime agricultural lands that once belonged to Caroni (1975) Limited have been left in ruins.

He says some of his constituents have had to abandon their homes bordering abandoned former Caroni plantations because of flooding from the non-operational drainage systems in the fields.

He also notes that children have to walk through mud and brave floods to get to school. He says the Bridal Road area has not been maintained for several years.

It is time for the minister and her government colleagues to keep their promises and fix the problems in Cunupia, he adds.

Warner has also accused the government of turning its back on squatters and less fortunate people in Chaguanas West and across the nation.

He says in one community in Cunupia more than one hundred families are under threat of eviction, noting that the same is happening in Williamsville and other parts of the country.

"It burdens me that these squatters feel that all hope has been buried," the MP says. "No one should have to worry where they will rest their head or their children’s heads at nights."