This is my suggestion for anyone who wants to go to Tobago urgently and cannot swim like Watson Duke.

Catch a flight to London or Frankfurt and take the once weekly flight by British Airways or Condor Airlines to Tobago.

Problem solved.

JAN WESTMAAS San Fernando

This was announced by Housing Minister Randall Mitchell during a media tour yesterday of five under-construction HDC developments along Trinidad’s East-West Corridor.

“On or before the end of the year, we will have approximately 360 units that will be added to the housing stock. Throughout the country, we should have about 700 on or before the end of the year that will be added.” This will include, by the end of September, 44 apartments in Building A of the Vieux Fort Housing Development in St James. Another 78 keys are expected to be given out by December, when 36 single family units and 42 townhouse units at the Real Spring Housing Development in Valsayn are scheduled to be completed.

These are phase one units in two of five HDC housing developments for which the total construction cost is approximately $1.2 billion. After visiting Vieux Fort and Real Spring, the media was then taken to see Bon Air North in Lopinot/Bon Air, Trestrail Lands in D’Abadie and River Runs Through in Arima.

“It’s $140 million for Vieux Fort in St James. Real Spring Housing Development (in Valsayn) is $114 million. For this development; Bon Air North, $398 million.

Trestrail Lands (in D’Abadie); those 100 units as well as the townhouse units, that is $564 million, I believe, and for River Runs Through (in Arima), the contract price was around $48 million,” Mitchell said.

In total, these five housing developments would cost about $1.2 billion. In all, the ministry has 23 active construction sites, which Mitchell estimated “would add about 4,500 units to the overall housing stock” by 2020 at an estimated total cost of $2.4 billion.

Asked what sort of dent these 4,500 units would make on the HDC’s waiting list, the minister replied, “Not a significant dent because there are 170,000 persons on the database.” He noted however that the five sites toured yesterday form part of the ministry’s “accelerated housing programme, which is just one programme under our overall housing policy.

“There are some other initiatives we’re bringing forward under the Ministry of Housing; you will hear about it (and) our squatter regularisation programme…in the (upcoming) budget presentation.” The ministry is doing construction at each development in phases so that as units in phase one are completed, they can be given out to applications to the HDC.

Whether units are sold, occupied on a rent-to-own basis or simply rented out, Mitchell said money coming in from the occupancy of phase one of these developments will go towards financing the remaining phases.

“We have prioritised a lot of our developments. So for example, in Vieux Fort, we’ve done it on a phase by phase basis and the money coming in from Victoria Keys (in Diego Martin) would be used as collateral to entering into a loan to fund the completion of Vieux Fort on a phase by phase basis.” “With respect to Real Spring, (that) will also be completed on a phase by phase basis. In fact, the contractor has funded the first phase and the monies that we will get from the allocations of those first 78 units, as well as other monies coming in from our mortgage conversions, we will fund the additional phases.” Mitchell also shared that in terms of Bon Air North, “at the end of first phase, we will have 92 units; both townhouse units and apartments which will be done on or before the end of the year, and we will go onto the other phase.” “Of course, with respect to the economic climate, the way we fund our housing construction programme is partly through Government sources as well as through our mortgage conversion programme.” Regarding the speeded up delivery of completed homes, Mitchell told reporters the ministry and the HDC had “realised that over the last years, there was some time lag between the delivery and allocation, and during that time, there was vandalism, theft.

“Of course, we also realised that, that is a cost burden to the HDC, so we need to allocate them and of course, the home seeker, who really desperately needs shelter, we have them first and foremost in our development plans.” Asked about the money HDC owes contractors, Mitchell said, “right now, about TT $700 million” for the 23 sites currently under construction. An HDC official noted that as contractors are paid, new invoices are certified, “so as we go down (in what’s owed), we go back up.” Meanwhile the Housing Minister was keen to point out the higher quality of work being done at River Runs Through in Arima, thanks to a 22-point Quality Assurance Plan that he came up with in conjunction with HDC Chairman, Newman George and HDC Managing Director, Brent Lyons.

“In the past, one contractor would have been given, say, a $1 billion contract to do 700 units and they would just do the units and when they are finished, then you would discover all the problems.

Now, construction is done via a protocol. So before you do your foundation, the project managers must sign off. After you put up your block walls, the project managers must come and sign off and before you get paid as well, all these things must be signed off and quality checked.

So that is what makes it different and I’m sure you can see the difference in quality with our townhouses and our single family units here,” Mitchell declared with a smile.

Thompson is at the Championships with teammate Kael Yorke.

Today, after 9.45am, Yorke is scheduled to mount the Lane Five starting block for the 50m butterfly in Heat 7 of 10. The 200m breastroke event which occurs sometime after 10:50am, will feature Thompson in Heat 2 Lane 3.

The competition ends on Sunday, with the team returning on Monday. The team is accompanied by Head Coach Joseph Mc Leod.

These were replaced by the new role of executive manager of corporate services.

This meant that for Lyn Lopez, executive manager of legal and Shane Ram, executive manager of human resources and administration, Thursday was their final day on the job. In a statement issued on Thursday, Angostura said it “can confirm that, as a result of a commercial performance review of the Company’s operational requirements, we have undertaken a restructuring of our executive management team.” The person who assumes the new post of executive manager of corporate services will have “responsibility for services in the areas of legal, human resources, information and communication technology, administration, property, facilities and security.

“This restructuring re-aligns Angostura’s organisation and management at the executive level in support of our business objectives, and will improve the company’s efficiency and profitability. It is an important measure to ensure the competitiveness of the business and to ensure that Angostura is positioned to take advantage of opportunities to expand our business both locally and globally,” the company said.

However, she says while enrollment may be affected, the institutions cannot give up but must continue to provide their services and be able to provide the facts about the benefits of education to an individual.

“What we have to do is define and continue to emphasise to citizens and students the importance of education in the long term because education is a tool and a mechanism to take us and catapult us out of many situations, such as poverty and take us to the next level.” Persadie made the comments during an interview with Newsday following an Accreditation and GATE Funding Informative Session at the school on Thursday evening.

The session dealt with the present and future of funding for education in TT; international accreditation vs foreign degree; the importance and relevance of accreditation by the Accreditation Council of Trinidad and Tobago (ACTT); and “Why now is the right time to pursue your MBA.” Participants at the session also heard from Nigel Forgenie, the Chief Executive Officer of the Youth Training and Employment Partnership Programme (YTEPP) on the benefits of getting an International MBA from the Lok Jack Business School as he did.

Persadie said in light of the current economic situation and the GATE means test, the school will have to take a new look at its recruitment and see how it can adapt in the event there is a decline in enrollment.

“So it doesn’t mean that Lok Jack will say ‘Okay, recruitment and enrollment are down so we will downsize.’ We won’t say that, we will say what other services can we offer and we are not only postgrad, we are also undergrad, we are in company development, we are in short term programmes, we are in research, so we impact differently and while one sector might take a little hit, we can impact somewhere else and make up the shortfall and continue to survive.

So we don’t rely on one mechanism or one revenue earner to survive.”

At a recent news briefing in Tobago, Duke vowed to swim between the two islands starting Monday at 8 am, he later elaborated that he would undertake this feat in a relay with fellow THA minority member Farley Augustine.

Duke has begun to hype up the event by posting on a picture of himself clad in a wetsuit to his Facebook page along with a video of him and Farley in a practice swim with the musical backing of a Mavado-styled singer extolling his ambitions.

However, open-water swim veteran Gordon Borde, in a CNMG News interview with Kent Fuentes, cautioned Duke over the reality of sea conditions, based on his own unsuccessful attempt at a similar feat in 2013 from Crown Point to Toco.

“It would take us 12 hours to reach Toco Point, we had estimated,” Borde said. “We had to go across the shallows and experience the currents and so on.

“But the currents were so strong that they were pulling us down, like we were going to Venezuela. So after a period of 14 hours, and we did 25 miles, we abandoned the swim.” He said Duke’s swim from Scarborough would be even tougher.

“Let’s say he does get to a certain distance off of Tobago, he’s going to encounter the easterly currents,” Borde added. “So he’s going to go through the same thing we went through.

Borde said that only in the unlikely event of perfect conditions on a particular day, then an experienced open-water swimmer would have a chance to complete the course. In Duke’s case, Borde said, “If he wants to make it across, perhaps go across in a boat.”

Roach and fellow fast bowler Shannon Gabriel took four for 71 and four for 51 respectively to dismiss England for 258 on day one yesterday. At the close West Indies were 19/1 after 12 overs in reply with Kraigg Brathwaite and Devendra Bishoo at the crease.

Roach is hoping the West Indies can put the regional team in a strong position today after surviving a tricky period under lights yesterday. “It could have been more (wickets) obviously.

Batting under lights is never easy, but I will say well played to Kraigg and nightwatchman Bishoo and I think that once these guys can stick out there and put up a fight against the English we can get a lead and try to win this Test match,” he said.

Roach, who was proud of his effort, said it was also great to see Gabriel playing again after recovering from injury. “It is really good to see Shannon fit and raring to go. He has been our best bowler for the last year and I will say well bowled to him for his four-for. For me I felt really good as well today (yesterday) and I just want to continue doing what I am doing, working hard and getting more wickets for the West Indies.” Roach said team meetings over the last few days helped the West Indies.

“We had a very strong team meeting, a very open team meeting so the guys know what we are about for the rest of this tour. It is all about going out there putting your best foot forward, working hard and performing for the West Indies.”

According to reports, the constable was on duty when he was struck. He suffered some injuries after being thrown from his motorcycle. He was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex where he was treated and warded.

Attorney Mario Merrit told Cedeno, on behalf of accused Rajaee Ali, his brothers Ishmael Ali and Hamid Ali and eight others, while the observance was not acknowledged as an official holiday in the Islamic calendar, it was an auspicious occasion usually observed through prayer.

Cedeno said she was not minded to accede to the request.

“I have already dealt with this issue in the past,” Cedeno said.

“I’m not going to entertain any queries about prayer. This is a court of law and as far as I can see, September 1 is a working day.” Also charged with murdering Seetahal on May 4, 2014 in Woodbrook are Devaughn Cummings, Ricardo Stewart, Earl Richards, Stephan Cummings, Kevin Parkinson, Leston Gonzales, Roger Boucher and Gareth Wiseman.

As the inquiry continued yesterday, defence and State attorneys argued over the admissibility of video footage as evidence using a laptop or other similar devices.

Merritt continued his objection to the use of video evidence without confirmation from State attorney George Busby that the device used for the viewing was fully functional.

However, Busby contended his position had not changed from last week’s hearing when he asserted there were no reasonable grounds to dismiss the evidence provided by the State.

“Your worship, he (Merritt) needs to show the court that at the material time, the computer the witness used was non-functional or the evidence was in any way inaccurate.

In other words, he needs to show that there are no reasonable grounds to indicate that the witness’ statement was inaccurate,” he said.

Merritt responded by saying it was the responsibility of the prosecution to provide the court with evidence of the laptop being functional.

However, the footage obtained from security cameras in and around the Ma Pau casino in Woodbrook was shown by the prosecution to the court.

During the latter half of yesterday’s proceedings, several accused expressed their discontent and restlessness at the slow pace of the inquiry.

Merritt expressed his dissatisfaction with the unwillingness of prosecutors to provide copies of their summary of evidence.

However, State attorney Gilbert Peterson SC hit back at Merritt by saying the defence was not entitled to view the detailed summary. Busby later agreed to provide Merritt with the documents by Friday.

The reports of this matter are shocking. A family home, nestled in a forested area miles off the Carlsen Field Road, was invaded then burnt to the ground. Three bodies were recovered at the scene. Dead are Michelle Harrylal, 26, her common-law husband Michael Applewaithe, 35, and another male.

We express condolences to the family of the victims. They should be given the necessary support and counselling they will badly need during this trying and traumatic time.

Miraculously, a four-year-old child – understood to be Michelle Harrylal’s child – escaped from the scene. How the child managed to escape is unclear but he will forever live with the pain of the circumstances of the death of his family. Though he was left without physical injury, the psychological injury he is likely to have endured is profound and will affect him for the rest of his life. We hope he receives the requisite counselling. If it becomes necessary, the Children’s Authority may have a role in this matter.

Certainly lawyers with experience in representing the interest of minors should be present at all points of contact between the child and the police to ensure his best interest is kept at heart during this investigation.

This matter is still under probe, but it is shocking to think of how events may have unfolded. The family may have been set upon during their sleep in the dead of night, murdered and their house destroyed. Another possibility – suggested by a trail of what appeared to be blood – is the murders took place outside of the home and then the bodies were dumped in the house to be burnt.

The crying child told a woman who found him wandering barefoot along the roadway that his mother was burnt in a fire and is in heaven.

The facts of this case will remind many of the brutal murder of an entire family in Malabar in June, the murder of a family in Brasso Seco in 2014, and the 1994 murders of Deo, Rookmin, Hamilton and Monica Baboolal of Piparo at the behest of Dole Chadee. In the latter case, two children survived. Chadee was later hanged.

While members of the Carlsen Field community are shaken at this time, it is important for all to cooperate with the police and to come forward with any information they may have. They must assist law enforcement authorities as much as possible and also offer whatever support is needed by the family.

News of the murders in Carlsen Field came as the body of a woman was found in Valencia bearing marks of violence.

The country is on edge. These developments show that crime remains too much of an element in our social fabric and efforts to tackle it must continue intensely.

We hope the police have the required resources they need to comb the scene and to pursue leads. While there are many important issues facing the land, eradicating crime must be our number one priority.

That includes reforming the Police Service, as well as the criminal justice system as a whole. But more immediately, it means ensuring there are enough trained and experienced officers to work on the large number of cases that continue to emerge daily.

In a few weeks, Minister of Finance Colm Imbert will set out his Budget for the next year. It is hoped that while economic times remains hard, the Budget for the national security apparatus remains protected.

For now, all efforts must be aimed at finding the killers behind the Carlsen Field murders.