The bad weather which battered coastal areas of north Trinidad last week Wednesday, leaving a trail of destruction in several rural communities from Brasso Seco to Matelot, has only added to the misery of residents of these areas who have endured decades of neglect and under development.
The landslides, fallen trees and blocked roads have at least resulted in some level of mobilisation, bringing limited relief but these emergency responses are too short term in their scope to bring about the improvements these communities so urgently need.
Residents of these rural areas are by now wary of the promises that have been made by successive governments to upgrade their communities. However, they cannot be faulted if their expectations had been for much more from the current political administration. After all, it was this PNM government, voted into power just over a year ago, that had rural development as one of their key campaign promises.
In their election manifesto for the September 2015 general election, the PNM promised to "continue the development of infrastructure in rural communities by improving, inter alia: feeder roads, electricity and water supply, telecommunications systems, rural housing, drainage, and irrigation systems."
The PNM also promised to stimulate industrial and agricultural activities in under developed areas such as the Nariva Swamp and the Oropouche Lagoon.
Once installed in office, the party created a Ministry of Rural Development and Local Development which, until recently, was held by Franklin Khan, a man with considerable ministerial experience. With Khan now promoted to the more high profile portfolio of Energy and Energy Affairs, rural development is now in the hands of the newly-elevated Kazim Hosein, former Mayor of San Fernando.
It was Khan, however, who in an interview on the first anniversary of the Rowley administration, gave the assurance that time had been spent crafting a structure for rural development and the necessary budgetary was being sought for improvements to rural infrastructure
Key projects said to be in the pipeline included the $250 million Moruga Road Fishing Facility and Port, as well as preliminary designs for the Valencia to Toco Road and the Toco Port to Scarborough, the latter two highlighted as part of a thrust for the development of east Trinidad and bring those communities up to the standard of urban areas.
The truth is that rural communities across the country, coastal as well as inland, have ensured decades of neglect. They share in common the challenges of high unemployment, persistent poverty and limited access to proper health, social and other services. No wonder, then, that the trend of rural-to-urban migration shows no signs of slowing.
More focus on rural upgrades will ease the strain that a high rate of urbanisation has brought to the nation's cities and boroughs, straining the ability of the authorities to provide housing, sanitation, security and other necessary services.
Hopefully, a modern, enlightened approach will be taken to this issue, that recognises the important connections between urban-rural spheres and also properly addresses the matter of rural revitalisation.
Any attempt at rural development must include a sustainable economic plan for those communities to ensure adequate levels of employment and income for residents. The aim should be to ensure that for T&T, looking more intently at economic diversification, policies and programmes will be developed that ensure rural communities make more substantial contributions to overall national development, with enough space allowed for non-agricultural activities, such as agro industries and support services.
In the long run, all of T&T will benefit when rural communities are properly developed.