$50m flood plan for Port-of-Spain coming soon

A multi-million dollar plan to address flooding in Port-of-Spain will be implemented soon. The first public consultation on the issue was scheduled to be held yesterday at City Hall, Port-of-Spain, at 10.30 am but was postponed because the venue had been double-booked by the Ministry of Public Utilities.

Dianne Wells, management officer for the geo-technical company Capital Signal, which was awarded the first of nine packages by the Ministry of Works for the plan, said the meeting had been rescheduled to October 10 at the same venue and time. Port-of-Spain and other areas in northern Trinidad recently were affected by heavy floods which damaged and destroyed property and resulted in two deaths. Those affected cited poor drainage as a major problem.

The project, Wells said, was expected to take approximately ten to 18 months to complete and would mean excavating streets in Port-of-Spain. She said package one was selected because of its impact and the number of people it would affect. The T&T Guardian understands the that package would cost upwards of $50 million. The company, which client is the Ministry of Works, will install wide, shallow underground interceptor drains around Queen Street which will carry the water to Duncan Street east, to South Quay and into the sea.