The Toco Port: Political Dancing a Jig on a Fig Skin

Yesterday, at the turning of the sod for a segment of the Valencia-Too highway project, in a kind of bizarre drama, the Works and Transport Minister, Sinanan, told constituents of Toco-Sangre Grande to “fight back if the Opposition tries to stop the $196M..project”. (http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/sinanan-tells-tocomanzanilla-constituents-.2.811290.bf3927b0a7)
Not to be outdone, the PM in his turn at the microphone declared that the Highway is part of a road network to “the pro­posed To­co Port which will pro­vide fish­ing fa­cil­i­ties, a two storey ad­min­is­tra­tive build­ing, a ma­ri­na for 30 plea­sure ves­sels, boat lifts, car­go stor­age, 300-pas­sen­ger wait­ing lounge, cus­toms of­fice and a coast guard fa­cil­i­ty. A ho­tel will al­so be built to at­tract tourist”.  (http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/oil-and-gas-opportunities-for-toco-region-rowley-6.2.811289.b48ac265ec)
He went on, “The north­east re­gion of Trinidad has the po­ten­tial to be­come a gas and oil in­dus­try sim­i­lar to Point Ga­le­o­ta and Guayagua­yare which can pro­vide a bet­ter qual­i­ty of life for cit­i­zens who live be­low the eco­nom­ic pyra­mid”.
He elaborated “We have drilling tak­ing place off­shores. To­co could eas­i­ly be­come a jump­ing off point to our east­ern re­serves as we ex­plore and as we are suc­cess­ful go­ing for­ward. The best part of the ocean is East of us.”
He added, “…the To­co port will be used to ser­vice the seabridge to To­ba­go, which spans 27 miles, us­ing the US $17.4 mil­lion Galleons Pas­sage”.
Flashback to 2000, July 28 to be exact and the same Keith Rowley, then in Opposition, spoke in Parliament about the Panday Government’s plan to build a port in Toco and have a Toco-Tobago ferry.
He had this to say: “The basis for this port is some Tobago to Toco ferry. Nobody in Tobago wants it; nobody in Toco wants it; nobody in Tobago or Toco appreciates it; but that is the grease to have the product created. Do you know who is doing this? The Cabinet. By saying that it is a Tobago to Toco ferry, the Government is giving the impression that it is a public purpose and, under that category, the Government is now going to proceed to take away people's homes to create this port.
  “So, here we have a situation where those who are living on the land enjoying it now, protected by the law, the Government is seeking to find a mechanism to acquire their land, then give that land to other private citizens to make money. I tell you, Mr. Speaker, this Toco ferry port has nothing to do with the people of Tobago and Toco.
“It has to do with creating a landing and jumping off point for the oil industry off the East Coast and the Government knows that. There are six oil companies now off the East Coast that can use that facility and if you look in the document, you will see it there. From BHP Petroleum, to Enron, to British Gas, to Exxon, to Elf Petroleum—all these are new names in our industry in the last 10 years—friends of the Government.
“That is supposed to make us all happy, then he tells me I must not talk about corruption and accuse the Government of corruption; we must only talk about mechanisms. We have mechanisms; we have laws and you all are breaking the laws to carry out your corrupt act. [Desk thumping]”. (Hansard, July 28, 2000, pp 775-6) http://www.ttparliament.org/hansards/hh20000728.pdf
The desk thumping recorded in Hansard was his Opposition colleagues supporting him lustily.
The Twirly Jig on a Fig Skin
So let’s examine, the utterances of 2000 and 2019.
In 2000, Keith Rowley accused the UNC of corruptly taking land from citizens to “create” a “jumping off point” for the East Coast oil industry. In 2019, the same Keith Rowley, will take land in the same place and give “access” and “Toco could easing become a jumping off point to our eastern reserves…” which “the Governent will go out to bid for..”. 
So taking Toco people’s land to create a jumping off point for gas multinational was corrupt in 2000 under UNC, but, miraculously it simply an “opportunity for the Toco region” in 2019 and under the PNM.
Sorry, Sir, if it was corrupt to give the multinationals a jumping off point in 2000, IT IS CORRUPT to give them the same jumping off point in 2019.
In 2000, Keith Rowley said “this Toco ferry port has nothing to do with the people of Tobago and Toco”. In 2019, the same Keith Rowley says the same ferry port “will be used to ser­vice the seabridge to To­ba­go” and close “the gap be­tween To­ba­go and To­co”.
What magical transformation! A useless corrupt project to build a port for a Toco-Tobago ferry service which nobody wanted in 2000 and which Keith Rowley vehemently opposed in 2000, suddenly becomes “…how you de­vel­op a coun­try...”in 2019.
How? Why? Because I Keith Rowley say so.
But he says, “I am in no pop­u­lar­i­ty con­test with these is­sues”.
So why the jig on a fig skin, the big about turn about the same port, the same ferry, the same jumping off point for the oil and gas barons?? WHY??
And as for corruption, you boast that the Galleons Passage “would be the per­fect trans­porta­tion means to im­prove the seabridge ser­vice”.
Which the same Galleons Passage procured by a sub-committee of the Cabinet contrary to the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act which you have ensured is not operational, even though proclaimed a long time ago.
Smells like corruption to me.
Like you said on July 28, 2000, Dr. Keith Rowley you telling me “I must not talk about corruption and accuse the Government of corruption”.
If this was corruption then, add the improper procurement process for the Galleons Package, and this is worse corruption in 2019.
Then you in the Opposition, called on people to oppose the Government project to build the port in Toco.
Now, your Works Minister telling the same people to “fight back if the Opposition tries to stop the…project”.
I am confident the people of Toco-Sangre Grande, Tobago and the entire country will not fall for this kind of deception and be fooled by the political games that you politicians play.
 
Clyde Weatherhead
A Citizen Fighting for
Good Governance and an
End to Political Tricks
28 March 2019

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