Raphael John-Lall

Pro­fes­sor Emer­i­tus Win­ston Suite, who taught civ­il en­gi­neer­ing at the St Au­gus­tine cam­pus of the Uni­ver­si­ty of the West In­dies (UWI) for decades, says the do­mes­tic econ­o­my is neg­a­tive­ly im­pact­ed when the gov­ern­ment ne­glects the main­te­nance of roads, bridges, drains and oth­er im­por­tant in­fra­struc­ture.

Speak­ing to the Busi­ness Guardian on Mon­day, Suite said it is un­for­tu­nate that gov­ern­ments in T&T have ne­glect­ed to al­lo­cate the kind of at­ten­tion and mon­ey to keep the coun­try’s in­fra­struc­ture sys­tems in place.

“The econ­o­my los­es a lot. The sup­pli­ers, the buy­ers, the buy­ing pub­lic are all af­fect­ed. Peo­ple don’t un­der­stand how in­fra­struc­ture af­fects the na­tion­al econ­o­my from ed­u­ca­tion to health to pub­lic ser­vices.”

Suite, who is a se­nior re­search fel­low at the Uni­ver­si­ty of T&T (UTT), said: “I know some peo­ple will say there is a short­age of mon­ey but in­fra­struc­ture is very im­por­tant. When we don’t fix the roads and bridges, it costs and im­pacts taxi dri­vers, com­muters, work­ers and chil­dren go­ing to school. The im­pact is tremen­dous.”

De­spite the crit­i­cal im­por­tance of the con­struc­tion and main­te­nance of in­fra­struc­ture to this coun­try’s econ­o­my, Suite ex­plained why gov­ern­ments start to pay at­ten­tion to long-for­sak­en projects on­ly around elec­tion time.

“Con­struc­tion and road con­struc­tion re­pairs are a vis­i­bil­i­ty is­sue. It is high­ly vis­i­ble. So if they pave roads or build drains, it is vis­i­ble to every­one. So, they be­lieve it will be favourable to who­ev­er is do­ing the work. Al­so, if a gov­ern­ment does not do these things then peo­ple be­come dis­sat­is­fied.”

Suite said he is “dis­ap­point­ed” that suc­ces­sive gov­ern­ments on­ly at­tempt to ad­dress the coun­try’s faulty in­fra­struc­ture around elec­tion time.

“We are now see­ing the worst state of in­fra­struc­ture, we have seen in many years. It’s a bit dis­ap­point­ing that we con­tin­ue to do what we have done in the past, that is when elec­tions are due, whether lo­cal gov­ern­ment elec­tions or gen­er­al elec­tions, we see a fren­zy of ac­tiv­i­ty in ar­eas that are vis­i­ble like road con­struc­tion, cut­ting of the grass at the side of the road, main­te­nance and oth­er ar­eas. We see a fren­zy of that,” he told the Busi­ness Guardian.

The lo­cal gov­ern­ment elec­tion will be held next Mon­day.

In Jan­u­ary of this year, it was re­port­ed in the me­dia that Works and Trans­port Min­is­ter Ro­han Sinanan promised an “ag­gres­sive” road re­pair cam­paign.

Sinanan said af­ter the Wa­ter and Sew­er­age Au­thor­i­ty (WASA) digs up roads to re­pair leaks, do not re­pair the roads quick­ly or up to stan­dard, an is­sue he is try­ing to re­solve.

Last Sep­tem­ber, Sinanan promised $450 mil­lion for road re­pair work.

Be­cause of this ne­glect, Suite be­lieves the coun­try’s in­fra­struc­ture is in “cri­sis.”

“We have had the ab­sence of sus­tained crit­i­cism, even by the po­lit­i­cal op­po­si­tion on this is­sue. We dri­ve around the place and we see the drains in cri­sis; we see the im­pact of flood­ing and they are now worse than they have been,” said Suite.

Cli­mate change

While Suite be­lieves that suc­ces­sive gov­ern­ments are to be blamed for the poor state of the coun­try’s in­fra­struc­ture, he ad­mits that there are ex­ter­nal fac­tors like cli­mate change that have on­ly made a bad sit­u­a­tion worse.

“We have had ter­ri­ble weath­er con­di­tions like years of ter­ri­ble storms and flood­ing episodes and this has had an im­pact on our roads, bridges, and our the qual­i­ty of roads. Look at the last two to three years and the ter­ri­ble flood­ing. There are the ex­am­ples of Man­zanil­la; there is the road to Mara­cas Bay. There is al­so Diego Mar­tin, which has had se­ri­ous flood­ing re­cent­ly. It is not on­ly in T&T but the rest of the Caribbean, the US and wider world.”

Util­i­ty cor­ri­dor so­lu­tions

Suite ad­vised that the Gov­ern­ment set up a pro­gramme of re­pairs and main­te­nance and try to stick to it.

“I be­lieve that the Min­istry of Works must have had pro­grammes of main­te­nance, but for some rea­son they have not been able to keep up with the de­mands and this is a pri­or­i­ty.”

He used the ex­am­ple of WASA which has suf­fered crit­i­cisms for decades as it is per­ceived that when roads are paved, not long af­ter, WASA digs up the roads to re­pair faulty pipelines.

“Ob­vi­ous­ly there has been a case of poor sched­ul­ing of re­pairs. We have to move the pipes from un­der the paved roads and put them at the side of the roads. Of course, there are rec­om­mend­ed meth­ods that they can ap­ply.

“We have to come up with a pro­gramme for the re­moval of the wa­ter dis­tri­b­u­tion sys­tem and put it at the side of the road. No util­i­ties, whether they be gas or wa­ter should be in­stalled un­der paved roads.”

He used a term “util­i­ty cor­ri­dors” which refers to a pas­sage­way through which elec­tri­cal, wa­ter sup­ply and sew­er lines pass.

These cor­ri­dors al­low group­ing of util­i­ty lines in a sin­gle, ac­ces­si­ble space, elim­i­nat­ing con­flicts be­tween those lines, min­imis­ing or elim­i­nat­ing trench­ing and re­duc­ing or elim­i­nat­ing man­holes.

Util­i­ty cor­ri­dors for com­mu­ni­ca­tions util­i­ties, such as fi­bre op­tic, tele­phone and tele­vi­sion ca­bles min­imise the need to dis­rupt traf­fic and oth­er sur­face ac­tiv­i­ties when sys­tems re­quire up­grades or re­pair.

Suite said that sev­er­al de­vel­oped coun­tries as well sev­er­al met­ro­pol­i­tan cities in the US have long moved to the suc­cess­ful em­ploy­ment of sub­ter­ranean util­i­ties duct­ing.

“I have writ­ten about this for many years. T&T must de­vel­op a sys­tem of these util­i­ty cor­ri­dors where you put all the util­i­ties whether it is drainage, elec­tric­i­ty, gas and oth­er util­i­ties at the side of the road. While they are at it, they may have to move these elec­tri­cal poles and put them at the side of the road as well. This is done in many de­vel­oped coun­tries. So you dri­ve in­to these places and there are no elec­tric writ­ing above, they are at the side of the road. So there is no need to stop the traf­fic or hold back pro­duc­tiv­i­ty when roads are dug up.”

He

CLI­MATE CHANGE

While Suite be­lieves that suc­ces­sive gov­ern­ments are to be blamed for the poor state of the coun­try’s in­fra­struc­ture, he ad­mits that there are ex­ter­nal fac­tors like cli­mate change that have on­ly made a bad sit­u­a­tion worse.

“We have had ter­ri­ble weath­er con­di­tions like years of ter­ri­ble storms and flood­ing episodes and this has had an im­pact on our roads, bridges, and our the qual­i­ty of roads. Look at the last two to three years and the ter­ri­ble flood­ing. There are the ex­am­ples of Man­zanil­la; there is the road to Mara­cas Bay. There is al­so Diego Mar­tin, which has had se­ri­ous flood­ing re­cent­ly. It is not on­ly in T&T but the rest of the Caribbean, the US and wider world.”

Util­i­ty cor­ri­dor so­lu­tions

Suite ad­vised that the Gov­ern­ment set up an agen­da of re­pairs and main­te­nance and try to stick to it.

“I be­lieve that the Min­istry of Works must have had pro­grammes of main­te­nance, but for some rea­son they have not been able to keep up with the de­mands and this is a pri­or­i­ty.”

He used the ex­am­ple of WASA which has suf­fered crit­i­cisms for decades as it is per­ceived that when roads are paved, not long af­ter, WASA digs up the roads to re­pair faulty pipelines.

“Ob­vi­ous­ly there has been a case of poor sched­ul­ing of re­pairs. We have to move the pipes from un­der the paved roads and put them at the side of the roads. Of course, there are rec­om­mend­ed meth­ods that they can ap­ply.

“We have to come up with a pro­gramme for the re­moval of the wa­ter dis­tri­b­u­tion sys­tem and put it at the side of the road. No util­i­ties, whether they be gas or wa­ter should be in­stalled un­der paved roads.”

He used a term “util­i­ty cor­ri­dors” which refers to a pas­sage­way through which elec­tri­cal, wa­ter sup­ply and sew­er lines pass.

These cor­ri­dors al­low group­ing of util­i­ty lines in a sin­gle, ac­ces­si­ble space, elim­i­nat­ing con­flicts be­tween those lines, min­imis­ing or elim­i­nat­ing trench­ing and re­duc­ing or elim­i­nat­ing man­holes.

Util­i­ty cor­ri­dors for com­mu­ni­ca­tions util­i­ties, such as fi­bre op­tic, tele­phone and tele­vi­sion ca­bles min­imise the need to dis­rupt traf­fic and oth­er sur­face ac­tiv­i­ties when sys­tems re­quire up­grades or re­pair.

Suite said that sev­er­al de­vel­oped coun­tries as well sev­er­al met­ro­pol­i­tan cities in the US have long moved to the suc­cess­ful em­ploy­ment of sub­ter­ranean util­i­ties duct­ing.

“I have writ­ten about this for many years. T&T must de­vel­op a sys­tem of these util­i­ty cor­ri­dors where you put all the util­i­ties whether it is drainage, elec­tric­i­ty, gas and oth­er util­i­ties at the side of the road. While they are at it, they may have to move these elec­tri­cal poles and put them at the side of the road as well. This is done in many de­vel­oped coun­tries. So you dri­ve in­to these places and there are no elec­tric writ­ing above, they are at the side of the road. So there is no need to stop the traf­fic or hold back pro­duc­tiv­i­ty when roads are dug up.”