Barataria is a very big com­mu­ni­ty, stretch­ing from Mor­vant Junc­tion to Don Miguel Road. With so many nat­ur­al dis­as­ters all over the world, we are not pre­pared for one. We orig­i­nal­ly had a com­mu­ni­ty cen­tre that was over 40 years-old. It was built with the sweat and labour of mem­bers of our com­mu­ni­ty. This cen­tre was torn down in 2010 and was promised to be re­built by the rel­e­vant gov­ern­ment min­istry. The 'new' cen­tre has been 75 per cent com­plet­ed and do you be­lieve that con­struc­tion has ceased.

Con­struc­tion of this new ODPM-ap­proved struc­ture has stopped yet again, for the sec­ond time, be­cause our trea­sury has no mon­ey. How­ev­er, mil­lions could be spent to drink White Oak and wa­ter and to en­sure the re­turn of the Sa­van­nah stage. Don't you think that is ad­van­tage? If to­day or to­mor­row a nat­ur­al dis­as­ter oc­curs in T&T (knock on wood) where are the res­i­dents of Barataria to go for shel­ter and refuge? We in Barataria are call­ing on the pow­ers that be to take ur­gent steps to fin­ish our cen­tre.

E Pe­ter­son

Barataria