The United National Congress (UNC), which has until today to vacate Rienzi Complex, will open its new headquarters on Wednesday, chairman and Pointe-a-Pierre MP David Lee has said.
Lee said yesterday, that the party has signed a two-year lease for a 4,000 square foot top floor of a building in the vicinity of Isaac Junction, Couva, located a stone's throw from its old headquarters.
Lee said the first exercise to be carried out at this new office will be the screening of candidates for the Chaguanas Borough Corporation.
The chairman said occupation of this building will be temporary as the party is seeking to find a permanent home to call its own. He said the rental of the new building was substantially cheaper than the $25,000 that was being asked for by the All Trinidad General Workers Trade Union for Rienzi Complex.
Lee spoke to members of the media as he embarked on a crime walk throughout his constituency yesterday morning.
The 10 km walk through the streets, which saw constituents of all ages participating, also highlighted the issues of child abuse and domestic violence in the area. Lee said over the past ten months there has been a spike in illegal activities in his constituency. He said businesses operating from the coastline of St Margaret's to Point Lisas have been hit harder by criminals. He called for additional resource for the police to better service parts of Claxton Bay, Diamond and Pranz gardens.
He said this matter was raised with Minister of National Security Edumud Dillon at a recent meeting.
'Compensate Claxton Bay fishermen'
He also met with Kishore Boodram, of the Claxton Bay Fishermen Association at the Claxton Bay Fish Market. He called on Government to compensate fishermen who have been experiencing slow sales since the fish kill in the Gulf of Paria over the past three weeks. He said the Minister of Energy was remaining silent on the issue while the fishing community suffers.
Boodram said he recently attended a consultation that discussed the proposed installation of four drilling rigs in the Claxton Bay area which will be connecting to the rigs in Point Lisas.
He said this was another disaster waiting to happen, since the proposed line could entangle the anchors of large ships and rip open lines causing future leaks in the sea.