Post-Cabinet Pappy Show: Better way to spend $15 million

Post-Cabinet Pappy Show:

Better way to spend $15 million

By SHELDON OSBORNE

LAST week, in the wake of widespread flooding, Minister of Agriculture Jarrette Narine told the nation that his ministry has $15 million set aside for flood relief this year.

He also said that $10 million was paid out last year to farmers hit by high waters.

With no sign of a dry season so far, it is feared that the $15 million might not be enough to cover compensation for all flood-hit farmers by the end of the year.

Furthermore, with hundreds more farmers entering the system with the distribution of Caroni lands to former employees, the ministry may well find itself in a position where things would get much worse before it gets better.

Neither Narine nor Minister of Works Colm Imbert brought any welcome news at last week’s Post-Cabinet Press Conference.

JARRETTE NARINE

Minister of Agriculture
JARRETTE NARINE

COLM IMBERT

Minister of Works
COLM IMBERT

Neither could say when farmers and other residents of Central and South Trinidad would see an end to the annual flooding problems they face.

Construction is yet to begin on the Mamoral Dam, which is expected to bring some relief to residents of Caparo and surrounding areas.

This dam is expected to cost over $100 million, and Imbert has assured that designs for the dam are complete, and work would begin this year.

However, government is still in negotiations to relocate persons who currently live on the site of the proposed dam.

History has shown that relocation issues could delay large projects for decades.

There is also a proposal for another dam to be built to soak up the overflow from the Caroni River, but this seems to be still at the “idea” stage.

Imbert told reporters that his ministry’s Drainage Division “has been out in the field for the last several days”, where they have been “trying to solve the problems wherever they occur”.

The ministry is also seeking Cabinet approval for a national drainage study “to start soon”.

The frightening message in all of this is that government is still as far away as they have always been from finding a solution for this perennial problem.

Measures taken to alleviate flooding over the years have always been piecemeal, and one suspects that no one (not even the folks at the drainage division) has a clue about what really needs to be done.

Building on the river bank

Building on the river bank
causes problems.

To make matters worse, the issue has become a highly charged, political one, with Opposition councillors pointing fingers and accusing the government of ignoring their communities in favour of the East-West Corridor.

Maybe the floods washed away their televisions, so councillors in Central can’t see government applying the same stopgap measures in the “Corridor”, or the millions of dollars lost to floods and landslides from Diego Martin to ’Grande.

These same councillors didn’t have much to say about the same unplanned, haphazard flood control measures being applied from 1995 to 2001, with the same results.

Meanwhile, citizens continue to mop up the mud from our swollen rivers and lap up the bull from our swell-headed politicians as both citizen and politician display a total lack of a will to do what they know must be done to improve the situation.

Who grants permission to build houses on riverbanks?

Why do farmers divert rivers, with the full knowledge that their actions would lead to chaos?

TnT Mirror saw one house in Rio Claro located in a depression near the banks of the Poole River.

Even though the house was built on high posts, floodwaters still entered it and ruined furniture and appliances.

Did the owner of this house get permission from Town and Country Planning Division to build in a riverside depression?

Does the government make any effort to enforce planning and zoning laws?

How much money would have been saved over the years if proper zoning laws were passed, citizens obeyed those laws, and Drainage Division had done the long overdue “National Drainage Study” years before a growing population covered hillsides and riverbanks with houses and gardens?

The population may never know the answers to these questions, but they could be sure that the country would have had an extra $15 million for other, more productive uses, such as paid training in Environmental Management for unemployed young people, or technical support for farmers.

Messrs. Narine and Imbert should buy the book Economics in one Lesson (Hazlitt).

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