The Highway Re-route Movement, led by Dr Wayne Kublalsingh, is yet to hear word from Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on a meeting to discuss the proposed Debe to Mon Desir leg of the highway.
On the second day of a “peaceful protest” yesterday, however, a letter was delivered to President Anthony Carmona on the matter. Speaking to the T&T Guardian outside the Office of the PM (OPM), St Clair, Kublalsingh said he also had not been contacted by any other member of the Persad-Bissessar-led People’s Partnership.
He began a peaceful protest on Tuesday opposite the OPM and delivered a three-page letter to the office. He told reporters then he wanted Persad-Bissessar to tell the nation, “whether she is going to blank the report or do the right thing and obey the voice of the experts.” A report was commissioned and prepared by a team of experts, led by Dr James Armstrong, after a 21-day hunger strike by Kublalsingh on behalf of the movement.
He said yesterday the group would continue to peacefully protest until the PM responded to questions on whether the Government would abide by the Highway Review Committee’s report. He said he had been in contact with Persad-Bissessar’s personal adviser on securing a meeting with her. Unlike during his 21-day hunger strike last year, only a few supporters sat with him yesterday. Two police vehicles visited Kublalsingh during the T&T Guardian’s visit to remind him “of the need to maintain order.”
He said the Government had totally ignored the Armstrong report which he described as a scientific one prepared by 19 experts in fields, such as hydrology, cost benefit analysis, geography, social impact analysis, economics and transport, among others. Kublalsingh added: “The Government signed up to it. They promised to do a review. The Prime Minister did. The hunger fast forced them to actually commit themselves to a review.
“They met with Joint Consultative Council (JCC), Fitun and other groups and they agreed… the PM agreed to the agreement between herself and these groups.” Describing the report as a landmark document, he said it gave “strong guidelines” as to how to approach and execute public projects with large sums of money. The report, he said, told the Government to stop the Debe to Mon Desir leg of the highway until specific studies were done.
In the letter delivered to the OPM on Tuesday, Kublalsingh said during a meeting on August 3 at Shiva Boys’ College, Clarke Road, Penal, National Infrastructure Development Company Limited (Nidco) representatives said the State intended to begin work on the Debe to Mon Desir leg of the highway to Point Fortin. He said the contractor intended to begin work in two weeks’ time.
No one, he said, was calling for stopping the San Fernando to Point Fortin leg of the highway but a call was made to stop the Debe to Mon Desir leg since “there was yet a number of substantive studies to be done.” He said a number of breeches were also committed. “She ignores and blanks Dr Armstrong. A serious gentleman who has done all of these studies in such a short period of time. The Government paid $.8 million to these scientists and experts,” he added.
Saying he could not give hard facts, Kublalsingh said there was evidence of corruption in the process. He said a former minister spoke of “vested interests.” When asked how far he was willing to go this time, he said: “I hope I don’t have to go very far this time because I, myself, don’t really want to go back. “It is kind of scary for everybody. It is a ugly sight, a scary sight for people. They get distressed with that.
“I hope and I think the Government itself doesn’t want to go through that ordeal again so I think and trust that the Prime Minister will do the honourable thing and obey the Armstrong report, build the San Fernando to Point Fortin highway, which everyone wants, focus on that as a priority.” Kublalsingh said his family had been very supportive of his decision to protest again but did not want him to cross the line into hunger-striking.