Lead Editor – Politics
The controversy surrounding the construction of a police post at the Eddie Hart Savannah in Tacarigua has deepened, with Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation (TPRC) chairman Josiah Austin claiming the structure was built directly over a National Gas Company (NGC) gas pipeline.
Austin is now demanding answers from the Government about what engineering assessments were conducted before construction began and whether NGC and other relevant agencies were consulted.
In a statement last evening, Austin said construction continued despite the corporation’s repeated calls for meaningful consultation before work commenced.
He said the discovery of the pipeline raised serious public safety concerns and vindicated the corporation’s insistence that proper consultation and approvals were necessary.
“This raises a serious public safety concern and demonstrates why proper consultation matters. Had the relevant agencies been consulted before construction began, this issue could have been identified and addressed from the outset,” Austin said.
Austin stressed that the People’s National Movement-controlled corporation was not opposed to the Government establishing a police post at the site.
He said the TPRC supported the initiative but its concern remained the process through which construction was being undertaken.
“Our concern has never been the project itself, but the failure to follow a transparent, lawful and coordinated process,” he said.
The development comes one day after Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar accused the PNM of deliberately attempting to frustrate the Government’s crime-fighting initiative after the corporation halted works at the site on Thursday before it resumed yesterday under the supervision of two Government ministers.
Persad-Bissessar described the decision as an “evil and vile act” and accused the PNM of fighting against the establishment of a police post while having “no problem with drug blocks in Tunapuna.”
Austin had maintained that the corporation stopped the works because it received no prior communication about what was being constructed at the ground, which falls under its jurisdiction. He said engineers from the corporation visited the site after learning that contractors had begun work and insisted the TPRC simply wanted information and compliance with the necessary processes.
In his latest statement, Austin also took issue with a reported comment from Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander that the matter was “not my business.”
“I respectfully disagree,” Austin said, arguing that while he had a responsibility to raise matters affecting community safety, the minister also had a responsibility to ensure facilities being constructed for the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service were safe and properly planned.
Austin said the Government must now disclose what engineering assessments were conducted before construction began, whether NGC and other relevant agencies were consulted and what action would be taken given the location of the structure over the pipeline.
The Eddie Hart post is among 30 police posts the Government plans to establish across the country over the next four months for use by joint police-army units. The posts are expected to serve as operational bases for joint forces and are being positioned near communities, major roads, transport routes and busy junctions.
