COP looks to ‘green and clean’ T&T
Tuesday, June 05 2007 @ 08:35 AM Trinidad and Tobago/GMT
Contributed by: Congress Media
THE use of the Queen’s Park Savannah, for car parks and storage of vehicles has been met with round condemnation from the Congress of the People.
The southern part of the Savannah is currently being used as a car-park by firms in and around the area and the Police Service recently announced its intentions to use part of the Savannah to store motor vehicles taken off the roads.
However, in a statement issued Monday, COP deputy political leader, Wendy Lee Yuen said: “One of the last remaining common spaces for the enjoyment of the public is being eroded by the Government’s neglect and failure to protect it as a national heritage. The use of green public spaces or any public spaces for that matter, for car parks and storage facilities and anything else that will destroy part of the environment is something that must not be allowed in any measure.”
“After battering the south western peninsula and destroying agricultural lands of Caroni Limited, the Savannah can now disappear under a heap of disused vehicles and is increasingly becoming an eyesore. It is a disgrace!”
Lee Yuen added: “And the PNM continues to take hold of private and public lands as if it were the party’s property with absolutely no consideration for the right of citizens to enjoy these lands and open spaces.”
Quoting from the Government’s own information, she advised, “Queen's Park is the last savannah of this size in this country - approximately 260 acres. The others, like the Arima Savannah, were encroached upon by the growth of the towns around them, and eventually lost huge chunks of their area to industrial or Government concerns. The Queen's Park Savannah, as the last untouched one of its kind, provides both a historical and ecological resource and is currently in danger”.
The former president of the Agriculture Society of Trinidad and Tobago said: “The COP as a Government, however, will take back open spaces and lands such as the Queen’s Park Savannah from the PNM and return it to the people of Trinidad and Tobago.”
Saying that a COP Government will ‘halt and reverse’ any measure that removes or destroys open spaces, the COP deputy leader said: “We have already drawn up policies on environment where public spaces will not only be protected; they will also receive funding for regeneration and renewal.”
She said: “A COP Government will make the Queen’s Park Savannah State protected property and restore it to its original splendor. We will also improve the grounds and facilities for sports including cricket, rugby and football. The Savannah will also be more protected as a family park with permanent security and equal access to all citizens.”
Lee Yuen explained that similar initiatives will be undertaken across Trinidad and Tobago, saying: “Development anywhere in our nation must not mean that we sacrifice the right of citizens to clean, protected, green spaces and in furthering our party’s stated position of ensuring that every constituency has access to adequate family facilities, we will undertake similar development initiatives to ensure that what has been taken from the people by the PNM will be safely returned to the rightful owners – the citizens.”
