Prakash thanks Sinanan

Ramadhar thanked Sinanan for visiting the constituency as part of the minister’s nationwide tour.

“I am a member of the Opposition and I think this is a healthy development that you have taken the time to come and share with me, some of the concerns,” he told Sinanan.

“We have done so much work in St Augustine in the past but there is always more to do. I thank you, minister for participating in that effort.” Ramadhar said he had known Sinanan for more than 20 years and considered him a friend.

“But, I think it is not only because of that.

I think we really need to put our people first, whatever there needs are. Across the political lines we are really one people in a very small country.” On the problems plaguing his constituency, the former Congress of the People political leader said traffic management was a front-burner issue.

He singled out the St Augustine Circular bridge as an example.

“There is the perennial problem of traffic management and we just looked at one of the bridges that require widening because this is a university area and there are many students who have to move along that very narrow bridge.

“So, we have plans for a little while now and I have an undertaking from the minister that he would widen this bridge now and put a footpath to the side to protect their lives.” The Opposition MP said Orange Grove Road also needed to be widened to minimise the traffic gridlock.

Ramadhar said flooding also remained a challenge.

“St Augustine is really a river basin and flooding for many, many years before has been very extreme,” he said.

“For the last several years, however, it has been seriously mitigated and it is far less of a problem but we need the consistent timely intervention of the cleaning of the river courses because of the garbage and the plant growth from time to time.” Ramadhar said Grand Bazaar also was in dire need for a car park.

“Grand Bazaar, where there is the food strip, which I consider a wonderful place to be, we need car parking there and I have a plan which I will share with you (Sinanan), which could be made far easier for the public of Trinidad and Tobago, to have families come and buy their food and have a place safely to park.” Sinanan told reporters that his plan for overhauling the Licensing Division was moving apace.

“There are now five offices where the licensing office offers full service and that is a far cry from January this year where there was just one office doing certified copies. Now you can go to any five locations in Trinidad and get same day service.” Sinanan said the problems plaguing the Licensing Division were well known.

“We all know the problems in Licensing office. In licensing office, every step you take forward there is somebody trying to push you back because people benefit from the system the way it is.

“So, you will always find that push back, not only in licensing office but many government offices. But what we intend to do is what the population expects of us, have the service improve.

And we are going to continue pushing forward.” Still, Sinanan said workers have been buying into his vision.