Although president of the Highway Action Committee Edward Moodie claims residents affected by the San Fernando to Point Fortin Highway project had halted settlement negotiations with the National Infrastructural Development Company (Nidco), the company says agreements continue to be met. Nidco’s communications manager Ingrid Ishmael said yesterday negotiations over compensation and relocation of residents living along the path of the $7.2 billion highway have never stopped. On Wednesday during a meeting with residents at the Debe High School, Moodie got support from residents for a suggestion that they should stop negotiating with Nidco officials, after claims that they were being offered unjust settlements and being intimidated into signing over their properties.
Yesterday, however, Ishmael said: “Thus far, ongoing negotiations have not stopped. Even Ms Pearly Ramnarine has deposited her cheque, thereby facilitating her settlement and relocation. “In the unlikely eventuality that residents discontinue negotiations, Nidco will be guided by the individual circumstances of each case.” Ramnarine is one of the South Oropouche residents who took part in last Monday’s fiery protest. She claimed that on July 26, Nidco officials visited her home and forced her to sign a $50,000 agreement. She said an evaluator had visited her home on four occasions and told her to sign the agreement or Government would demolish her house and she would have to pay $500 for it. Ishmael said Cabinet already had agreed to the allocations of lots at Petit Morne, Ste Madeleine, to bona-fide residents who had said they were willing to be relocated. She said Nidco had also begun to arrange trips with residents to visit the Petit Morne 11A site. Days after the protest, Nidco sent a letter to Moodie, who works as its community outreach consultant, reassigning him to work on the proposed San Fernando to Princes Town phase of the highway.
Moodie has since said he was contemplating legal action against the company, saying he believed it was an attempt to silence him because of his attempt to make public the errors Nidco was making with respect to the highway project. Ishmael said the San Fernando to Point Fortin highway was the largest infrastructural project undertaken in the history of the country and admitted Nidco and other Government agencies had faced numerous challenges. She said the issues were being managed and rectified. She said Moodie, like all citizens, had the right to seek redress in the courts if they believed they had a cause of action. She said if the matter did arise, the company would take a decision then. She added: “Mr Edward Moodie’s present responsibility as consultant in the Community Outreach Programme includes performing duties for any of Nidco’s projects. “Although the San Fernando to Princes Town highway has not started, Nidco has to make preparation for the next fiscal year.”