Legal steps under way to cease Debe route

Environmental activist Dr Wayne Kublalsingh says legal steps are being taken to permanently stop the Debe/Mon Desir leg of the Point Fortin to San Fernando Highway Project. This is in response to Works and Infrastructure Minister Jack Warner’s decision to temporarily suspend that phase of the construction. Warner, speaking at the commissioning of a Programme Upgrade for Road Efficiency (PURE) road rehabilitation project at Crown Trace, Enterprise  on Wednesday, said work will be temporarily suspended for three months as officials review alternative routes for the disputed part of the billion dollar project. Warner’s decision came days after irate residents disrupted a public consultation held by his ministry in collaboration with the National Infrastructure Development Company (NIDCO), at Debe High School on Saturday.Kublalsingh expressed scepticism about the sudden decision to suspend the construction. He also dismissed it as another attempt to bamboozle the public.

 

Kublalsingh who heads the Highway Re-Route Movement (HRM) said: “They cannot start this part of the highway to Mon Desir because they have not finalised any compensation or relocation plan. It is just another attempt to bamboozle the public that they are giving a concession to the people when in fact they are not giving any concession at all.” The environmental activist remained adamant that the residents do not want a highway between Debe and Mon Desir and across the Oropouche lagoon. He said they have lost confidence in Warner and want now to deal with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. “We much prefer to meet with the Prime Minister who is the final arbitrator in this process. She is still amenable to logic and clear argument and still sensitive to the needs of the people,” Kublalsingh said. He said attorney Fyard Hosein is in the process of drafting a pre-action protocol letter for government to cease that part of the project which is in question. “We are in the process of gathering names of persons who will be directly affected by the highway to submit with our pre-action protocol letter,” he said. Senior Counsel Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj is expected to take up the HRM’s case.