President of the T&T Contractors Association Mikey Joseph says the San Fernando to Mayaro highway must be postponed.
The highway was touted as an integral access route for the gas corridor by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar during her address to the nation on January 8.
But Joseph says it is not wise to spend billions of dollars to build another highway at a time when T&T faces an economic crisis.
Saying it was more economical to utilise air and sea travel rather than land, Joseph said, “I don’t see the benefit of two major highways right now, except if one is done totally local. I really don’t see why that project has to start now because most of the gas, from what I understand, is in the north eastern coasts and not the south eastern coasts.”
T&T is expected to face a $7.4 billion shortfall due to the drastic drop in oil prices from US$107 per barrel to levels between US$46 and $45 recently.
Recommending that the Mayaro highway be postponed until 2017, Joseph said: “I know that getting to Mayaro is a problem and I understand they want to do some deep sea drilling in the east and south east coast, but those areas are better accessible by the sea.”
He noted that the recent upgrade of the Point Galeota port would better assist sea travel.
Asked whether the building of the Mayaro highway would put the country in an economic tailspin, Joseph said: “I have no idea of the country’s finances so I can’t say that.”
He lamented that the Government did not consult with his association to discuss planned projects.
“Some contractors are invited to bid for projects and others are not. Based on what is happening now, if the grand project —Point Fortin highway— was contracted differently in phases, we could have suspended work on one or two phases.”
However, he said because of possible legal ramifications the project had to go on.
He also recommended that the Curepe Interchange project be put on hold, as well as construction of new schools and housing developments.
President general of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union Ancel Roget also said the first project to be terminated should be the contentious Debe to Mon Desir segment of the Solomon Hochoy highway extension.
“It is perplexing and amazing that in the face of global recession, which this country cannot escape, the PM will make an announcement to continue with another highway project for millions of dollars and have major dislocation,” he said.