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Toco's Turning Tide

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Toco's Turning Tide 4 SUNDAY 12 MAY 2019 SUNDAY EXPRESS NEWS ANALYSIS HOW IT IS TODAY: Grande L’Anse Bay in Toco as it is today. When the port Toco’s deja vu is built, all of this will vanish. —Courtesy Iere Eye Aerial Photography THE Dr Keith Rowley-led People’s National Movement (PNM) Govern- ment is pressing ahead with a multi- billion-dollar Toco port and highway project which they castigated when the United National Congress (UNC) was in ofce. Are there any winners in a project they claim will give Toco and the north east the development they crave? Is there a cost to the character of the village, beaches, environment; and will it impact on critically accommodate offshore bunkering, endangered leather-back turtles? oil industry servicing, a long-lining On the ground, people are fishing fleet and processing facility, wondering why they should travel a cruise ship hub, a marina, and the for two hours or more, depending on ferry. where one lives, to board a ferry to The port would also swallow up Tobago? 17 hectares of private residen ces In a series of articles, MARK through land acquisition, even two MEREDITH investigates the return churches and a cemetery. The very of the Toco port and the issues fabric of Toco would be destroyed, tionships particularly for agriculture, surrounding it. its soul torn out. fishing and tourism...” The plan was championed by This was Prime Minister Dr Keith Part I Basdeo Panday’s UNC administra- Rowley’s claim in an address to the tion which backed the project idea Joint Consultative Council for the NOTHING much has changed on of transforming this sleepy corner of Construction Industry on January the wild coast of Toco since 2000. Trinidad into a “future Gold Coast”, 16, 2018. The cycle of life has continued and a “successful business/enter- Eighteen years earlier, how ever, turning as it always has done, as prise zone”. Rowley, then of the PNM opposi- reliable as the rough seas, constant The document proposal for the tion, was singing from a very dif- as tides and the changing of the port stated: “The project could be- ferent song sheet, as this address to seasons; a delicate balance of man come the centre of development for Parliament shows: and nature coexisting in an area of the eastern half of Trinidad as the “The basis for this port is some special beauty held dear to so many city of Port of Spain was for the cen- Tobago-to-Toco ferry. Nobody in Trinidadians. tre of development for the East-West Tobago wants it; nobody in Tobago It was this symbiotic relationship Corridor and the western/southern or Toco appreciates it; but that is the between the residents of Toco and region of Trinidad.” grease to have the product created. their environment that led to their Do you know who is doing this? The memorable victory in 2000 over Rowley’s about-face Cabinet. a private consortium (Worldwide “By saying that it is a Toba- Traders International) which had Does any of this sound fami liar? go-to-Toco ferry, the Government planned to build a multi- purpose It should. is giving the impression that it is a port, all with the blessing of the UNC “The socio-economic benefits of public purpose and, under that cate- PROPOSAL: The proposed port at Toco in Grande L’Anse Bay is nearly as government. the establishment of a ferry port are gory, the Government is now going large as the one rejected by the people of Toco in 2000, and will be just Without prior discussions with varied and significant and will ena- to proceed to take away people’s as damaging to the environment of the bay. the residents of Toco, they had ble sustained development of the homes to create this port... I tell you, planned to bury Toco’s Grande region on a scale not unlike the de- Mr Speaker, this Toco ferry port has about-face has turned full circle with yacht” berthing, oil and gas sector L’Anse Bay beneath the concrete velopment that took place in Point nothing to do with the people of To- the scale of their port model echo- servicing, coastguard facilities, of a huge industrial port that would Lisas in the 1970s... the improved bago and Toco.” ing that of the 2000 version in terms new fishing facilities and a hotel road access to of size and many of the services all planned at taxpayers’ expense– Toco and the Toco Unknown cost planned. how much it will cost is unknown Ferry Port projects Like its predecessor, the 2019 because of a request for confiden- therefore have The Rowley Government’s plans edition is very much more than tiality made to the Environmental huge economic for a Toco port they once derided a ferry port service to Tobago Management Authority (EMA) by and symbiotic rela- are now well advanced. The PNM’s with bunkering, marinas, “mega Nidco, the State agency charged TODAY’S WEATHER Hazy and breezy conditions expected; low chance of a few brisk showers. Moderate to high concentration of Saharan dust present over region. Seas: Moderate Waves: 2-2.5m in open waters; Less than 1m in sheltered areas. Rainfall: Trace (Piarco) Cumulative: 12.6 mm (Piarco) Maximum Temp: 33oC Minimum Temp: 25oC Sunrise: 5.44 a.m. Sunset: 6.19 p.m. Port of Spain Tides: High: 9.53 a.m. 11.18 p.m. Low: 3.50 a.m. 4.36 p.m. Scarborough Tides: High: 9.51 a.m. 11.16 p.m. Low: 3.46 a.m. 4.41 p.m. 5 SUNDAY 12 MAY 2019 SUNDAY EXPRESS NEWS ANALYSIS with its construction. impact upon the marine environment—not The result is that its enormous only here in Toco itself but along the entire north coast of Trinidad.” footprint will be just as devastating to • “Toco is regarded by many as one of the the natural environment of Toco, and few remaining relatively pristine areas in the beyond, as the castigated 2000 edi- island. One of the ironies of the current pros- tion. Of special concern is the nesting pect is that these plans will entail the destruc- place where leatherback turtles gath- tion (or at least damage of) the very assets er at Galera Point, directly in the path the area has to ofer to tourists and visitors.” of the proposed shipping lanes. • “If you just consider Grande L’Anse Bay The Sunday Express has informa- alone: the eel grass beds there boast unusual tion that a unique coral habitat will be species such as mantis shrimp, fying gumard lost forever. and long-nosed bat fsh, while in the immedi- Also, that Mission Beach, “one of ate vicinity on land there are jacamars, pearl many in Toco” used by turtles for kites and red-legged honey creepers.” nesting and an important hub of vil- lage life in Toco and Mission villages, From scientists and NGOs: will be swept away by the new coastal • “Unfortunately, our country has already dynamics that will alter Toco Bay with experienced signifcant negative efects to the advent of dredging, a port and the coastal environment due to similar port 340-metre breakwater. development... this should be a lesson learnt We have also been given informa- and taken into consideration for future coast- tion that an offshore bunkering oper- al development plans such as what is being ation (the refuelling of oil tankers at proposed for the Toco area.” sea) will form part of an undisclosed • “The marine biodiversity at Grande L’Anse, “second phase” of the Toco develop- the proposed location for this facility, will re- ment in an area of exposed, rough quire destruction of a biodiverse area. The EMA water—and we have not been able to has stated that the contribution of biodiversity obtain a straight answer from Nidco GOODBYE TO FUN TIMES?: Swimming in Grande L’Anse Bay—this activity will disappear when the port is built. to the economic and social well-being of T&T’s or the Ministry of Energy citizens is undeniably signifcant... if an ex- on this. flies in the face of Gov- CONCERNS ON preferred option.” emption is made to sacrifce a biodiverse area The sod has been ernment claims for the PUBLIC RECORD • “Since childhood, and for years, I have for a service, then when will decisions involv- ing a loss of environmental area stop? If we turned for the road which project. Comments on the Terms of always gone to Grande L’Anse Bay to take a sea bath and it would really be devastating if compromise now, what will this suggest to our will service the port, a The sense of déjà vu Reference (TOR) which guide this pristine beach was destroyed by construc- future generations as to what our attitudes highway from Valencia for the prople of Toco the port EIA are in the CEC tion of this port.” are for our environment?” to Toco (at a cost varying must be overwhelming. application file and run to many • “What we certainly would appreciate is • “We are not sure enough justifcation between $2 billion and Yes, time has, in many pages. sustainable development.” is there to construct a port at Toco; given $5 billion, according to ways, stood still in Toco Here are some of those con- • “The majority of persons in our commu- the cost, the impact on the area’s natural Works Minister Rohan Sinanan), and and its environs. Their road south is cerns from citizens of Toco, nity think favourably ‘in principle’ of having environment, and importantly the efect on work has begun on sections excised even worse than it was 19 years ago.
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