Much has happened since the August 8, 2013 meeting between the members of the Highway Re-route Movement and the Prime Minister. At this meeting, the Prime Minister could not say whether she would abide by the Armstrong report or not. The Armstrong report called for the government to not proceed with any construction work on the Debe to Mon Desir section of the highway until a number of substantive studies on hydrology, ecological impacts, social impact and cost benefit analysis were done. It also called for no works to proceed at Petit Morne until the necessary regulatory approvals were obtained from the Town and Country Planning Division.
On Christmas day, 2013, massive floods descended in the vicinity of a culvert that the contractor OAS was building south of the Debe interchange. This flood occurred just weeks after the State had started construction works on the Debe to Mon Desir highway. The floods extended across the SS Erin Road and flooded homes on the east of this thoroughfare. The M2 ring road was also flooded as well as the entire Debe interchange. This was the first time that construction works had entered the wetlands of the Oropouche lagoon. At the end of May 2014, disgruntled residents affected by the Debe to Mon Desir highway entered into a hostile confrontation outside office of the MP for the area, Roodal Moonilal, with people unaffected by the highway. The affected disgruntled residents had come to protest about what they called a betrayal on the part of the government. The relocation process of those who have accepted compensation and whose homes have been broken and destroyed have become fraught with difficulties. NIDCO’s relocation action plan has fallen apart. The much touted Petit Morne, a site earmarked for the relocation of residents, is still incomplete. Residents who have been promised rented accommodation have been having difficulties receiving their cheques from NIDCO; and some complained that rental accommodation was inadequate especially for large families.
On Sunday June 1, a front page headline article appeared in the Sunday Express describing illegal quarrying on a site in the Northern Range. The article was headlined Highway Robbery and the exposition in the inside page was headlined “Stolen material used in highway project”. Just to remind the public, the Armstrong report stated that the government not pursue any construction works in the Debe to Mon Desir highway until a hydrology report, to assess the potential impacts of flooding, was done. It is recommended that the State’s resettlement action plan be completed and made clear to residents, and that Petit Morne should be investigated. It is also recommended that no work proceed at this site until appropriate regulatory permits were obtained. It is recommended that off-site impacts such as the quarrying of large amounts of aggregate from the Northern Range should be assessed before any works proceed on the Debe to Mon Desir highway. Debe to Mon Desir alone, according to the Environmental Impact Assessment for this highway segment would require 179,000 truckloads or 1.4 million tons of aggregate.
The PM and her government continue to refuse to abide by the Armstrong report, a document done by 19 scientists and experts. Additionally it continues to act illegally breaching the legitimate expectation and Section 4 of the constitution, according to the high court decision judgment handed down on May 14, 2014. Corruption of process and corruption itself continues to trump regulation, rule, science, authentic development, process and law.
Ravina Singh,
via e-mail