Reporter
carisa.lee@cnc3.co.tt
Residents of Sea Lots, Port-of-Spain, have mixed views about the Government’s plan to transform part of their community into a modern port and government hub.
On Thursday, at the Diplomatic Centre, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Works and Infrastructure Minister Jearlean John announced the Trinidad and Tobago Revitalisation Blueprint, which outlines several major infrastructure projects across the country.
Among the projects identified is the redevelopment of the Sea Lots Industrial Park and Free Trade Zone. But residents along Pioneer Drive told Guardian Media yesterday they have no intention of giving up their homes without a fight, especially if they won’t be benefiting.
“Now sometimes you say development, and when you watch development, is for who? Sometimes we think we is the people that getting the benefits and getting the payment, but when you look other people move in, is other investors, is other residents, is business people, and they just want to throw us in a corner—that cannot work,” the resident, who did not want to be identified, said.
The man, who said he has lived in Sea Lots for over five decades, said many residents, including himself, have spent years building up the waterfront community and their homes. He added that while they welcome consultation, the Government must recognise that residents come before investors.
“It used to be shacks, it no longer have shacks. People get comfortable, have their family here, they build their big house. You just can’t come up with a plan and say you want to put jetty, investors and a warehouse. What does it have in that for the residents and the youths of Sea Lots?” he asked.
One young man, who asked not to be identified, said that while the project may benefit the country, he worries about his neighbours who could lose not just their homes but their livelihoods if relocated.
“I know my neighbour years, I know this one here, if I need something I know where to go to... it comes like I’m leaving earth and going to Mars to live and start something fresh, a totally different environment you going and send me in,” he said.
The 29-year-old said many residents of Sea Lots make a living through odd jobs in the city, fishing, or vending.
He showed Guardian Media the structure he’s currently building and explained that it would take a lot from him to give it up after all his sacrifices.
“I now going and put in my windows, and that was a very long while I take to do that because you see how the place is going, nothing is cheap,” he said.
However, along Concession Drive, Marlon Phillip and his wife, who see the waterfront strip from their home, said that once properly compensated, they are ready to go.
Phillip welcomed the plan but said he had been hearing about the redevelopment of the area since he was a little boy.
“This plan in the works for years. I always plan for this day, I know this day would have come, I keep telling my children, saying it is going to come,” he said.
He’s willing to be relocated anywhere in the country except for an apartment building because of his disability.
Other residents on Concession Drive said once they are treated fairly, they will not object to the plan. Phillip’s wife, who asked not to be named, lamented that the stigma attached to the community affects her business.
“I have a business here, if I don’t go in town to buy the things that I need, the trucks don’t want to come here, they go everywhere in Port-of-Spain; they don’t want to come here. So if it is that the Government has plans to move us out of here, compensate me for my place,” she said.
Member of Parliament for Port-of-Spain South, Keith Scotland, declined to say much except that nothing could happen in Sea Lots without consultation. However, Minister John said she would speak with residents herself before anything is done.
