Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation (TPRC) chairman Edwin Gooding yesterday said the corporation had no plans to stop the controversial sport centre at Orange Grove, Tacarigua. Rather, he said, the corporation’s decision to issue a stop order notice was merely to ensure that the proper procedure was being followed before the project was started.
He added: “There’s an agency to deal with environmental issues. It’s not about stopping the project, it’s about the processing of an application. Sometimes people make all kinds of insinuations. But it’s nothing personal. “The Green Space people have their concerns but it’s not a contentious issue.” Gooding made the comments when asked if the TPRC could withhold approval for the centre to be constructed by the state-owned Sports Company of T&T (Sportt) because of possible negative environmental and social impact.
Residents of the area formed the “Our Green Space Committee” in protest, saying the project will have great negative social and environmental impact. They are worried the grassland will be paved, aquifers destroyed and a gas line interfered with. But their biggest fear is that they will be shut out of the 39-acre savannah they have been using freely for decades.
Gooding was unbending in his position that the corporation’s only concern was to make sure the application by The Synthesis Group, representing Sportt, was completed so it could be processed for approval. As for his promise during his recent inauguration that burgesses would be consulted before the corporation made its decisions, Gooding said the Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC) that Sportt was yet to submit to the TPRC would take care of that.
“One of the documents we need from Synthesis is a CEC. This means they will be doing consultations. The granting of the CEC will mean the impact will not be unfavourable,” he added. Asked about the TPRC’s earlier lack of response to the Green Space Committee’s pleas for intervention, Gooding said the corporation received a letter from members on November 21 asking how it planned to respond to the project.
He said the TPRC was in the process of informing the committee that a stop order notice had been issued to Sportt to halt construction work until its application had been completed. He said the TPRC held a meeting with Sportt yesterday but he was not present, though CEO Beresford Ellies and the building inspector attended. “The meeting would have been held to clarify our requirement and the company would have agreed to get the necessary documents,” he said.
The Save Our Green Space Committee is satisfied with the stop order as an interim measure, member Vernon de Leon said yesterday. Trusting it was not just some kind of ritual, De Leon said according to information the committee had received, the contractors withdrew from fencing works in the main field but continue to work on the construction of a site office. “The office is part of the multi-sporting complex project and it appears they are still flouting the law. All works should be completely halted,” he said.
He said the TPRC still had not met with the committee and continued to treat members with contempt. “We asked for a copy of the stop order and were told to get it through the Freedom of Information Act, which will take 28 days. This is bewildering,” he added. De Leon said the committee was still pursuing its legal options on stopping the project through the TPRC and the EMA. He added: “We wait with bated breath to see the outcome of all this.”
Asked the cost of the project, De Leon said Sport Minister Anil Roberts, before the project was made public, said it would cost $200 million but in an official statement later reduced the figure to $190 million.