At Thursday's post-Cabinet news conference, Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner announced that the Cabinet had approved the expenditure of $750 million "to repair roads, fix landslips and landslides and for building retaining walls." The minister went out of his way to make two points: one that the money would be distributed across the country, including in constituencies controlled by the opposition People's National Movement. He also announced that the constituency of Moruga/ Tableland would receive the most funding of the 41 electoral districts in the country because of its major landslides and poor infrastructure in that constituency.
On both scores, the Government of the People's Partnership showed political maturity and good sense in that its intention is not to discriminate against any area of the country based on which party the majority of the constituents voted for and in allocating the most money for the beleaguered constituency of Moruga/Tableland. A report in yesterday's T&T Guardian referred to Moruga as a settlement that is "often referred to as the landslip capital of T&T" and quoted a councillor for the area as stating that he was preparing to document every landslip in the constituency. Councillor for Hindustan/Indian Walk, Jules Downing, told our reporter that the limited resources he receives from central government were spent trying to repair landslips.
"Moruga/Tableland is noted for its landslips. It is ridiculous in Moruga/Tableland. It is a real problem. We have the brunt of the landslips. We have major landslips in Hindustan, Heart Trace, Corosan, George Village, Tableland and Mantacool First Branch Road," Downing said. To take Minister Warner's point further, not only does Moruga/Tableland deserve the most money, but it should also be given the quickest attention. As the Government mobilises contractors across the country to undertake these road works, it must go out of its way to ensure that the first constituency on the list for attention is that of Moruga/Tableland. There should also be some mechanism in place at the Ministry of Works and Transport to determine other constituencies or areas in which the need for immediate rehabilitative road works is more acute than average.
The minister must also ensure that this $750 million fund is not used as a means of paying back contractors who may have been supportive of the People's Partnership in last year's electoral season.
The largest road contractors in the country would obviously have an advantage over the smaller ones in terms of their scale, the amount of equipment at their disposal and their ability to mobilise quickly. But in its rush to get these roads fixed, the Government must be very careful to ensure that all of the work does not go to the two or three largest road repair companies in the country. As we have had cause to warn in this space previously, the Government must also be very careful in terms of the procurement processes that are used in the infrastructural developments.
In this regard, it is lamentable that the Government has not sought to amend the current procurement legislation along the lines touted by many of the leading lights in the Government in last year's general election campaign. Finally, one of the common themes about road repairs in this country is that a road can be repaired today and develop potholes next week. This points to a significant institutional weakness at the Ministry of Works and Transport in terms of quality assurance and the testing of the repaired roads by qualified and honest staffers. While we applaud the Government for moving to address a sore national problem, sufficient care must be exercised in ensuring that all of the necessary processes are followed to facilitate the successful execution of this project.