Point Fortin chamber hopes for highway, hospital

In an emailed statement, Chamber president, George Alexis noted that the continuation of work on the highway to Point Fortin was a “reasonable” expectation with provisions made for its continuation in the 2017 budget.

“Given the challenging economic climate, it will be wishful thinking to expect full completion of the project at this time but if the segment between Grant road and the southern main road in way of the oilsand quarry is completed, we will be very happy indeed,” Alexis stated.

“As it stands now, the Point Fortin highway is connected to everywhere else on the way except Point Fortin! Completion of this segment will about halve the travelling time between San Fernando and Point Fortin,” he pointed out.

He observed that the second item on the Chamber’s wish list was the completion of the Point Fortin hospital as this project “has been a very long time in the making and we would certainly want to see the project continue and hopefully at an accelerated pace.” And regarding the current decline in oil and gas prices, he pointed out that the South Western peninsula “has been and still is very dependent on the petroleum sector and the decline in production over the last few years coupled with the current prices is cause for concern to say the least.” “It is likely that some petroleum based business may be negatively impacted resulting in layoffs and we would want to suggest to the Government that the conversation on diversification should focus on the south western peninsula,” he concluded.