Kublalsingh explains Point highway situation

Map shows route of new highway. Click on map to see details in new, larger window

Prime Minister Kamla Persad and her Works Minister, Jack Warner, promised last week to deal with problems that have arisen with respect to the $7.2 billion-dollar from Golconda to Point Fortin.

One of the issues is a lobby led by university lecturer Dr Wayne Kublalsingh. The Highway Reroute Movement held a rally earlier this month to lobby the government to change the route of one section of the highway.

While Persad-Bissessar insisted that the highway project will go on, she also said that she would continue discussions with Kublalsingh to see if there is a way to resolve the problem.

In an Internet posting, Kublalsingh has provided some details of the project.

"The Point Fortin to San Fernando Highway system was broken up by planners into different phase:

• Pt Fortin to Mon Desir
• Mon Desir to St Mary's Junction
• St Mary's Junction through Mosquito Creek to La Romain
• La Romain to San Fernando

"There is also a segment from Golconda, end of current highway, to Debe. 

"The population in the South West Peninsula do not seem to have strong objections to any of these links. The objection is to a link from Debe swinging back to Mon Desir which runs across the Oropuche Basin across a number of rural communities. 

"This proposed section will rest atop a 6-8 foot embankment and run for 9.1 miles. 

"The Ministry of Works applied for separate CEC's for each of these links. The Mon Desir to Debe link was granted a certificate in April 2010. This certificate was never challenged, although in many respects it is deeply flawed. 

"The statutory time for challenge has elapsed. 

"We have been mapping an alternative to the Mon Desir to Debe route, a re-route."