Way cleared for Toco port

“This projects is to be started in August,” he said.

Sinanan addressed members of the Arima Business Association who applauded the announcement at the Arima Fest “Corporate Breakfast” held yesterday in Arima.

Among those present were MP for Arima, Education Minister Anthony Garcia and MP for D’Abadie/ O’Meara Ancil Antoine, both of whom made brief remarks.

Sinanan said that the works on the new port and on the extension of the Churchill Roosevelt Highway to Manzanilla will provide thousands of jobs for citizens with residents of Arima and Sangre Grande to benefit the most.

Describing them as “the two biggest projects that ever started on the eastern seaboard of Trinidad,” he said, “We expect more infrastructure and land development, more residences and more businesses in the area.” Noting that Arima and Sangre Grande are the closest towns to Tobago, he said, with the completion and operationalisation of the port, they can expect trade with Tobago to develop. If he had spoken about this project two years ago or even five or ten years ago, he said, people would have thought it was just pie in the sky.

When he took office, he said, the construction of the port was one of the mandates Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley gave him. Meanwhile the Toco first class road, another major project, he said, is due to start in early 2018.

“The Arima business community has a lot to look forward to,” he said.

Some of the other major projects that his ministry is undertaking includes the extension of the Solomon Hochoy Highway from San Fernando to Point Fortin which is expected to completed by 2019. The Moruga Road upgrade, another major project, he said, is due to start by August month end.

A consultant is in place making recommendations for the Diego Martin overpass, and tender documents are to be advertised in another two months. While the Maracas Bay Project is due for completion by year end, Sinanan said, by the end of August the facilities at the popular bay would have been much improved.