THIRD WORLD

The fire started on the upper floor of Sing Chong supermarket. This part was completely destroyed, but the fire officers managed to save much of the lower part of the building. Yet the fact that they did so is both a tribute to the fire-fighters’ skill and a reflection of the incompetence of the higher authorities. The firemen had all the equipment promised over a year ago by National Security Minister Martin Joseph — new hoses, new lifts, and so on. But, as usual, there was no water in the fire hydrants — some of which were spanking new as well. And this is the pattern that the Patrick Manning administration has displayed in other areas of national life — a penchant for providing expensive and showy solutions, while ignoring the fundamentals.

It is now over four years that the Government has known about the problems with fire hydrants in Port-of-Spain. San Fernando is in the same predicament. And yet, although flush with money, the authorities have not made fire safety a matter of priority in either city. Instead, there has been what appears to be a pappyshow. More than sixty new hydrants have been installed in PoS, but it is not clear whether these are working. Indeed, up to February this year, only 10 percent of the city’s hydrants were functional. Has that proportion improved at all? We doubt it. And this is the same kind of mentality which has led to the purchase of three sky towers at a cool $1 million each — but with no cameras in them. And we need not remark on the infamous blimps, which have also failed to make the slightest dent in crime.

What makes the hydrant issue especially egregious is that the government is pushing full speed ahead with its city construction projects. We have no doubt that all these high-rise buildings the five-star hotel, the Government campus, the Social Development tower, the multi-storey car park — will also have state-of-the-art fire safety systems. But they will be of little use if a major fire engulfs the capital city itself.

Apparently, however, the Government does not appreciate this simple and fundamental fact. And this is a typical Third World attitude — living in hope that the worst will never occur. But, sometimes, the worst does occur — and what separates survivors from failures is that, when it does, measures are in place to mitigate the worse effects of the worst scenarios.

In the capital city, there are two main fundamental issues to be dealt with. One is fire safety. The other is flooding. In both cases, the Government knows what has to be done. Getting the city’s 200-plus fire hydrants functional is far from being an impossible task.

Indeed, this could be taken care of within a year, if not sooner. Solving the flooding issue would take somewhat longer, but the Government does not seem to have even begun taking any action at all, although it is almost a certainty that all the new buildings are going to worsen the problem.

The fact is, these issues are not tackled in an efficient and timely manner, not because the know-how and finances are lacking, but simply because an efficient and anticipatory attitude does not form part of the mindset of those who wield power in our society.

That is what, despite all our oil and gas wealth, keeps the country a Third World one.