Works Minister Jack Warner will hold discussions with main contractor OAS next week, to discuss the possibility of starting the Point Fortin end of the $7.2 billion highway early next year. Warner made the disclosure while delivering the feature address at a business luncheon hosted by the South Western Chamber of Industry and Commerce at the Borough auditorium. He explained that discussions would be held next week and he intended to propose to OAS the possibility of beginning construction at Point Fortin from January, even as construction continues simultaneously from Golconda.
The call to begin construction from Point Fortin was first made by Mayor Clyde Paul. Warner said, however, that after careful thought, Paul's idea was not a bad one. He said for too long Point Fortin had been suffering from infrastructural neglect. Warner said connectivity would boost economic activity in the region, bringing jobs for more than 7,000 people. He added that the highway would also open up trading opportunities for those in the peninsula. Saying that local companies must position themselves to take advantage of the gains, Warner noted that 45 per cent of materials and 40 per cent of labour would be local.
Meanwhile, Warner also revealed that a meeting was held with Public Utilities Minister Emmanuel George to discuss periodic destruction of recently paved roads by WASA. Warner explained that an agreement was signed, indicating that WASA would inform the Ministry of Works if pipelines had to be run. In return, Warner said WASA would be informed by his ministry of any road paving to be done in areas where pipelines had to be run. "At the meeting, I told WASA that nobody had a problem with them digging to find a water leak," he said. "We agreed that WASA will not do any roads paving, we will do it and WASA will pay us to do it."