When will flooding in Caparo end?

Residents recall the plan by former minister of works and transport Franklin Khan, who spoke of a strategy to minimise flooding and gave residents the expectation that something positive would be done soon.

At a mass meeting in Caparo he promised that a dam would be constructed in Mamoral and that would be the end of all the flooding.

The price of land and property would escalate as investors would flock to the area. The budget was close to $175 million and the money for the dam was ready and waiting. Dutch experts were brought in to advise the Government and they held numerous meetings with residents, all to no avail.

Additionally, students from a major US university carried out research on the flooding and how it could be tackled. But that too was to no avail.

The flooding issue even became a social studies subject on the secondary school curriculum. I personally hosted a group of CAPE students from St Joseph Convent in Port of Spain and held several media interviews highlighting the plight of the people of Caparo.

So where is the money allegedly put aside to undertake this project? Scores of residents had started looking for places to relocate. The Mamoral Cemetery was to be relocated. But nothing has happened.

The Caparo River was at one time one of three major rivers in Trinidad, the others being Caroni and Nariva. It used to be 30 to 40 feet in width.

Now, despite intermittent cleaning, it is about 40 inches wide.

In my over 50 years in public service, part as a councillor, I advocated that the Caparo River could have been developed into a tourism destination, along with the AB Carr Building, named after the former colonial secretary of the then colony of Trinidad.

But these suggestions were never taken seriously.

For those who do not know, when it floods in Caparo there is no movement of goods and services.

The Brasso Caparo Valley Road, the main thoroughfare to Chaguanas, Rio Claro, Mayaro, Arima and San Fernando, remains impassable for several hours, if not for days. Residents are isolated from the rest of the country.

On behalf of the people of Caparo and environs, past generations, present ones, and future ones, I appeal to the powers that be to get serious about human lives and intervene with a positive solution to the perennial flooding.

Flooding in Caparo must move beyond Bret.

PARAS RAMOUTAR Caparo