Following the mayhem of the Red Bull's inaugural Flugtag event, chief executive officer of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) Dr Stephen Ramroop feels the only way gridlock can be prevented in Chaguaramas is by converting the area into a national park.The proposal was thrown out to the Chaguaramas Development Authority (CDA) by Ramroop at a meeting subsequent to the Flugtag event, which left thousands of motorists trapped in their vehicles for hours because of traffic congestion along the route three weeks ago.
Should the CDA embrace the proposal, this would mean throngs of people entering Chaguaramas for major events, such as parties, rallies, fetes and sporting activities would be required to park their vehicles at designated areas and be shuttled in.The move, Ramroop said, would ensure best practices and regulations are adhered to by promoters and relevant agencies, mainly the police, fire officers, OSH inspectors, the Environmental Management Authority, CDA, ODPM and the National Carnival Commission during evacuation procedures.
"My suggestion to the CDA is that the whole peninsula be converted into a national park. Anywhere there is a national park in the world you have to park your vehicles at a designated area and be shuttled into the area using golf carts, buses or even walk."Ramroop said if the public objects, he does not see any other solution to the traffic problem in the West.He noted that consultation with all parties, including residents and business owners on the peninsula, would be necessary.While the ODPM cannot make shuttling mandatory because "all this has to go through proper legislation", Ramroop said, "action can be taken only when the safety, security and protection of an individual is affected".
Clamp down on PoS traffic
Ramroop also agreed with Works Minister Jack Warner, who had suggested "park and ride" to prevent bottlenecks in the city when he was in charge of Transport."We have to look at the possibility of clamping down on the Port-of-Spain traffic."Ramroop said if T&T wants to achieve first world status, people must align themselves to changes.Tomorrow, Ramroop said, he will meet all stakeholders responsible for hosting events in the Western peninsula to gain some lessons coming out of the Flugtag event and to "look critically at what went wrong with a view of preventing it from happening again".
Ramroop said he will also have consultation with Carnival promoters to outline regulations pertaining to crowd management and requirements of hosting fetes and parties of varying sizes for next year's Carnival."We have to start planning now to get things right."Any promoter staging a fete, Ramroop said, must apply for a licence with specific requirements and report to the CDA.Before the promoter is granted an application by the court, Ramroop said, they must have a proposal showing a venue operation command centre, tabletop exercises and a schedule approved by the ODPM.
A tabletop exercise is designed to test the theoretical ability of a group to respond to a situation without causing disruption."Too often, persons in fetes do not follow instructions of fire officers and most times the fire officers do not have the necessary back up to stop a fete."In a large crowd, Ramroop said, it was crucial to have a number of key people, including fire, medical personnel and the police hooked up to a command centre, which is supervised by a commander.