Imbert promises to break traffic stranglehold

WORKS AND Transport Minister Colm Imbert yesterday said revolving door governments from 1986 to 2001 caused the suffocation of Trinidad and Tobago’s transportation systems. However, the current Government is creating a national transportation plan that will ensure that these systems continue to develop regardless of the political party in power. Speaking with reporters after the first national stakeholders’ meeting on the Comprehensive National Transportation Study (CNTS) at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Imbert disclosed that the new Uriah Butler-Churchill Roosevelt Highway Interchange will be constructed west of the interchange’s current location and all its sections will be devoid of traffic lights to facilitate the free flow of traffic in all directions.

Imbert said the last National Transportation Plan (NTP) was done in 1967 and expired in 1985. He explained that this plan was not applicable today since its framers could not have anticipated the economic boom of the 1970s which increased vehicle ownership and traffic volumes “beyond anyone’s anticipation.” Asked why TT was 20 years behind in developing a new NTP, Imbert attributed this to changes in government from 1986 to 2001. “When you have these kinds of drastic changes what happens is that development slows down because the new administration coming in, always wants to review, re-evaluate and revalidate what has been done before,” the minister explained.

Imbert, who served as works and transport minister from 1991 to 1995, said this was not the case with him because he has more experience this time around. “I have some ideas of what should be done. I have a little advantage. I don’t need to slow down. I don’t need to review and revalidate,” he said. The minister also said the new NTP will be finished by 2006 and he does not expect any future government (PNM or another party) to deviate from it since Government is striving towards national agreement on the plan. Imbert said a government may need five to seven years to fully implement all aspects of the new NTP, and he was confident that the PNM would be there to complete the job. The minister also said agreement has been reached on a final design for the new interchange.

He said it would be constructed to the west of the current interchange to “allow us to do it very quickly, very efficiently with minimum disruption to the travelling public.” Imbert added that it made no sense to construct the new interchange at the current location or build “a very expensive interchange with traffic lights on it.” He said contracts for the project would be completed within the next two months, tendering would begin in September or October, and construction would commence in December. Imbert anticipated that the interchange should be completed by June 2007. The project will be tendered out by the National Infrastructure Development Company, one of several limited liability companies formed by Government to assist its ministries in implementing its key Public Sector Investment Programme projects.