From last week thursday's newsday
Newsday.co.tt
By LEISELLE MARAJ Thursday, July 12 2007
PLANNING and Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis yesterday said that the country experienced a point three percent growth in its population last year with an estimated 1,297,944 people living in this country.
She made the revelation at the launch of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) State of World Population 2007 report at the Crowne Plaza, Wrightson Road in Port-of-Spain. The report stated that within the next year, half of the world population will be living in urban areas.
“Closer to home, it has been estimated that by the year 2020, the percentage of people living in urban areas of Latin America and the Caribbean would approximate 80 percent,” she said.
“These figures can be disturbing,” she said, “because there are often insidious implications of poverty and increasing hardships for many less-privileged persons trying to eke out a livelihood, in realities of slum conditions around many cities in the developing world.”
Robinson-Regis who earlier this year gave birth to twins, said within government’s Vision 2020 plan, there are several policies which directly or indirectly deal with urbanisation. These include accelerated, high density housing, urban renewal and redevelopment, development of local area plans for cities, boroughs and towns, measures to deal with traffic congestion in urban areas, decentralisation of administration with the establishment of sub-regional immigration offices and registrar offices, building of communities and housing settlement in non-urban areas, e-government, improved transportation networks, introduction of a mass transit systems and local government reform.
“In addition to these measures which I have outlined, The Town and Country Planning Division of the Ministry of Planning and Development are in the process of updating the National Physical Development Plan to guide development for the entire country,” she said.
The plan found that the Couva/Chaguanas region is experiencing rapid increases in its population density while areas in south-west and south- central, namely La Brea and Princes Town and Mayaro in Eastern Trinidad are lagging in growth. These areas, the minister said, have been targeted for development.
