The highway review committee headed by Independent senator Dr James Armstrong will be finalised tomorrow. Between ten and 12 local experts have already been chosen by the committee, Armstrong said yesterday. Specialists are being be selected in the field of transportation, hydrology and drainage, social and economic impact, economic analysis, highway engineering and property valuation.
Armstrong said there would be consultancy taking place with international experts to secure additional opinions. "We would not be bringing in any international experts because that would be very costly. Instead we would be sending the documents to them for review so as to get a second opinion," he said.
The Independent senator was named to head a coalition of experts from civil engineering fields to determine whether the social impact of the Debe to Mon Desir segment of the San Fernando to Point Fortin Highway had been adequately addressed.
The committee is being set up by the Joint Consultative Council (JCC) and other groups to do the review and Armstrong said he was confident that tomorrow all names would be finalised. It was that committee and the promise of that independent review which ended a 21-day hunger strike by environmental activist Dr Wayne Kublalsingh.
An office at the Professional Centre Building at Fitzblackman Drive, Wrightson Road Extension, Port-of-Spain, has been made available to the committee to carry out its work, which it is expected to finish within a 60-day deadline. "That office space, which is the JCC's office space, is very limited. We might need additional space at another location, and the JCC would be trying to arrange that so all our interviews could be done there," Armstrong said.
Working from the day he was selected, Armstrong said he still had to examine a lot of paperwork. "We've got a vast amount of work to do. I have been working very hard at going through the documents," he said. He is also expected to go on an aerial tour via helicopter of the Debe to Mon Desir segment either today or tomorrow.
Asked about the cost of the exercise, he said the initiative was being undertaken by the JCC. "I was engaged by the JCC and the JCC would have also played a key part in selecting the specialists," Armstrong said. "The whole exercise is being undertaken by the JCC, so that's where the cost factor would come in."
Calls to the JCC's president Afra Raymond went unanswered yesterday. A text message to Raymond asking the cost of the initiative also got no reply.