PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad--Construction of the proposed multi-million-dollar Churchill-Roosevelt Highway extension to Sangre Grande by the National Infrastructure Development Company NIDCO is not sitting well with some Wallerfield farmers who will have to find land to continue their livelihood when they are given notices to leave.
More than 50 farmers and homeowners will have to be removed to make way for the highway. The farmers, who said the government was giving them a raw deal as they are now forced to hunt for alternative accommodation, believe it is a total disrespect to their profession.
At a meeting with residents and farmers late last year, a pamphlet bearing a map and details of the new route was circulated by NIDCO.
The project involves several packages which will be done in phases – work starts this month and is expected to be completed by 2025. A new four-lane dual carriageway from the existing intersection of the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway and Cumuto Road will be built and several river crossings and box culverts will also be constructed.
Farmers have no say – Bowen
Livestock farmer Wayne Bowen said they were told by NIDCO that government needed their lands for the mega project.
An executive member of the Wallerfield Farmers’ and Allied Welfare Association, Bowen said an assessment was yet to be done on their land.
He said plans were being made without the farmers’ involvement or having a say.
“They doing what they have to do and then coming to talk to us. There has been no consultation. We were told after an assessment is made by the government we would be paid for our properties and we have to move out. They are not going to relocate us.
“So, I have to find land to continue my farm. I am not in agreement with this.
“Why they can’t find a place for us?”
The farmers have been earning their livelihood on agricultural lands leased to them by the State for decades.
“Don’t tell me you developing the country and I am going to be left behind … when they build this highway all the rich folks will come around and buy up all the land and they will benefit. Nobody is going to push nothing down my throat because I will rebel.”
Bowen said he would not let the government “railroad” him. He said if the government needed his land, they would have to find alternative accommodation for him.
Bowen has been farming for 51 years. He said his suggestion of another route which NIDCO could have used to avoid disrupting the farmers’ lives, had been ignored.
“Nothing should stand in the way of progress”
However, livestock farmer David Ellis shared a different view, stating that farmers should not stand in the way of progress.
“Fifty people cannot hold back 50,000 people. I am trying to encourage farmers not to protest or resist but to try and get the best valuation and package possible to have an easy transition.”
Ellis said they heard government would give them a list of recognised valuators to have their properties evaluated.
“That is why I intend to get an independent valuator to ensure what is given to me is equitable and fair. I am trying my best to encourage the farmers to look at it from a positive standpoint. It is government’s land.”
While some farmers preferred relocation, Ellis said such a move can be unfair to an individual. “The government can shift you to an area you do not like or where it floods. To me, it is better you find your own place.”
In light of the new development, Ellis said a small group of farmers have since retained the services of an attorney who has been advising them. He estimated that roughly 50 farms and households in Wallerfield would be affected.
“It’s totally unfair”
The association’s president Lisa Perez, who represents 500 farmers, sees the move by NIDCO as totally unfair. Perez said the farmers were hoping for a consultation with NIDCO which they are yet to see.
“We had a meeting in Coryal which was out of the way for the farmers. Many could not attend. All the questions we put to NIDCO they did not answer.”
She said she intends to hold a meeting soon with the farmers to determine how many will be adversely affected, because the numbers keep going up.
Sinanan: EMA will consult with farmers
Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan, under whose purview NIDCO falls, told Guardian Media the government would require some lands for the construction of the highway.
“A value on the land will be determined on the land acquired and equitable compensation will be handed out … you cannot keep back the progress of a country because somebody may have sentimental ties to something. If it is a farm and you make a living, you put in a claim for that.”
Told that the farmers had identified an alternative route to prevent their lives from being disrupted, Sinanan said the route had not been selected by the ministry but by experts.
“As a matter of fact, that route might have been chosen long before I became a minister. The final route is chosen because they would have taken everybody’s view into consideration. There has never been a highway built in Trinidad where there was wasn’t a protest or somebody tried to stop it or somebody thought it was not a good idea.”
Sinanan said the Environmental Management Authority would have a consultation with all the farmers.
“That happens from time to time, you go back and change and tweak. The final layout would have taken everything into consideration,” Sinanan said. ~ Trinidad Guardian ~
