Jack says time to move on and fix T&T problems

Jack Warner said on Tuesday it's time to move forward and stop blaming the past government.

The Works and Infrastructure Minister was addressing a luncheon meeting of the Port of Spain Rotary Club.

Warner noted that when the new People's Partnership government took office in May last year, it had a mandate from the people to fix things.

"We as a Government have been given a mandate by the people to govern and we have to govern. Whatever occurred in the past, good or evil, we must pick up the pieces and move forward to rebuild this country. That is the mandate given to us," he said.

"People are saying that we have been in office for 18 months and by now they expect us to do more. People expect to hear more from us than those who are responsible for the problems in this country...

"We are in office because people realised that there were those in the past who gave this country problems and they put us in office to correct those problems," the Chaguanas West PM said.

Speaking about the flooding in north and north west Trinidad over the weekend, Warner said it was a natural disaster made worse by human activity. He pointed to developers whom he said indiscriminately cut the hillsides without thinking about the consequences of their actions.

"The fact that you had unplanned development, illegal construction and cultivation of the hillside, and also our riverbanks, neglect of our infrastructure. All of this played a major role in the destruction that unfolded over the weekend and Monday," he declared.

The minister said government has a responsibility to deal with these problems and enforce the building laws.

He said the Town and Country Planning Department has not been functioning effectively for the past 15 to 20 years and this must change. He said the department's operations will be discussed as a priority item at Thursday's Cabinet meeting.

Warner also said more money than is available currently will be needed to complete the clean up and to repair the damage caused by floods in Maraval and Diego Martin.

He did not have an exact figure. However he said what is more important is the fact that "the work has to be done and must be done. We will deal with the cost afterwards".

He added, "I am quite sure that the Government will become innovative and creative and find the money. It is to bring comfort to these people at this point in time."