Investment on virgin lands, a golf course resort in Tucker Valley with a hotel with a minimum capacity of 100 rooms; high quality residential development including bungalows, townhouses and apartments.
This is the eco-tourism vision that the Chaguaramas Development Authority (CDA) has for Tucker Valley. And they are willing to sacrifice at least 282 acres of land for it, inside an area that should be declared a National Park (or is it National Park....ing lot?). It is all in an online video titled "Chaguaramas Investor Prospectus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrg3h9iO4ac#t=13s).
It sounds like a classic upscale, exclusive Florida-style golf course development, and it clashes head-on with the sustainable eco-tourism that is hyped for the area.The golf course resort is cited as a "fixed" project. Does this mean that it is a fait accompli, decided behind closed doors? If public consultations were held on this, then let us see the proof of them.
The video repeats how lush the land is. It is even called "virgin" which gives hope that the delicate nature of the land is understood, yet that is intermingled with terms like "prime real estate," "unlimited potential for foreign and local investment." The environment gets no more than a passing mention.
Historically Tucker Valley has been used for low-impact environmental-based tourism and some agriculture. It is has enormous potential for this. The agricultural land is said to be among the most fertile in Trinidad. The natural beauty of the area is nothing short of breathtaking.
This can be the core of a Costa Rica style eco-tourism style development drive. It takes little imagination to visualise canopy walks, monkey-watching tours, waterfall hikes, and mountain bike adventures or snorkeling with turtles in Macqueripe Bay. Why are we so dismissive of our natural assets?
Intensive development inside Tucker Valley will push wildlife deeper in to an ever-decreasing wilderness, creeping development will destroy the magic of Chaguaramas.The opportunity for eco-tourism will be lost. Is that a price we are willing to pay? Costa Rica, a country famous for sustainable development attracted record 2.4 million visitors in 2013.Most of them are eco-tourists. Just a fraction of that tourism pie can double or triple our visitor numbers.
The video shows a vision of Hart's Cut with a Venetian style shopping mall with artificial waterways, the coastal strip developed in to a Disneyesque pleasure park.Are we a society so devoid of original ideas that we must copy everything from abroad, so blind that we cannot make use of our given treasures?
Now ask yourself, who is going to get on a plane and fly to Trinidad to visit a fake Venice or a watered-down version of a Florida theme park?The first rule of any economic decision is that you use your competitive advantage, and that is not this.The one development I do agree with is the boardwalk. Port-of-Spain is very much a city that has turned her back on her companion, the sea.
The boardwalk has given thousands a place where they can have a sort of commune with the ocean, while taking afternoon walks with the family.
It was built environmentally responsibly, with recycled materials and solar lights, in a seafront area that was already degraded. Good job, CDA, but do not let it spin out of control. That environmentally friendly effort is now being undone by the development of the Guave Road wetland, part of which is being turned in to a car park, farmer's market and transport centre. The no-net loss of wetlands rule must be taken in to account.
This immense development will exponentially increase the number of users of the North West peninsula. Can the area sustain that? What is the carrying capacity? Has any such study ever been done? If not, how can such intense development be proposed? This is the first step towards any master plan for the area.
Traffic management is already a nightmare. The road leading from Westmoorings to Chaguaramas reached its capacity decades ago. It is a lovely, na�ve idea that additional hoards of visitors can be attracted to the Chaguaramas peninsula on a village road that has daily deadlock and traffic jams. What will they do, build a superhighway through the sea, or perhaps dig a multilane tunnel through the mountains?
What will be the cost, both financial and environmental?In the meantime traffic woes will strangle the life out of existing profitable Chaguaramas-based businesses, defeating the purpose of trying to monetise the value of the peninsula.