2020 Vision with rose coloured glasses


A walk through the streets of Port-of-Spain quickly reveals that this is a time of rapid development and urbanisation in the country’s capital. Change occurs daily; in a matter of months buildings have been demolished and new ones take their place as the face of the capital is rapidly transformed at what seems an unprecedented rate. One only has to try to find a parking spot to know this to be true.


It used to be that the cut off time in the morning was 6.30, sometimes 7 depending on the street. Once one arrived by this time one was almost guaranteed a good spot. Now, sometimes by 6 am one has to resign oneself to forking over $25 to some parking lot attendant who always looks like there is somewhere that they would much rather be.


Indeed, this accelerated rate of growth is not limited to the capital, neither is it restricted to areas traditionally perceived as urbanised. The various outlying towns can lay claim to their more than fair share of shiny new buildings and horrendous traffic congestion but it is the presence of such large scale works in places traditionally described as rural that attests to the fact that the country is firmly in the grips of massive infrastructural development.


This is, of course, both a direct and indirect offshoot of the Government’s Vision 2020 project. By now most of us should be aware of the plan, which basically hopes to bring Trinidad and Tobago to developed nation status by the year 2020. And thus the wheels of this juggernaut have been set in motion and it seems to be determinedly rolling towards transforming most of the country into a commercial and cultural Mecca.


A recent informal television interview asked citizens what Vision 2020 meant to them. Some answered better employment, others safety. I wish to go one step further. Vision 2020, put in its most fundamental terms, means a change in mentality.


Let us assume that one is still taking a walk through the streets of Port-of-Spain, the same walk that pointed out the rapid superficial changes taking place. I hope that while one is walking through the streets and noticing the construction taking place, one still remembers to look down occasionally and note where one is placing one’s feet.


After all, despite all the construction going on, this is still Port-of-Spain. And this, simply put, is my point. It is all well and good to wish to bring the country to First World status by the year 2020. It is laudable; kudos certainly must be given to any government which seeks to take on and implement such a Herculean task.


But First World status is more than shopping malls and waterfront development. It is more than citizens being able to purchase million dollar cars which they drive as they make their way towards their multinational workplaces. First World status is about taking pride in oneself and one’s country and we as a people are woefully lacking in that criterion.


It’s as simple as realising that hawking and spitting in the road poses a serious health threat, not to mention being just plain nasty. So too is the habit of using each street corner and lamp post as one’s personal water closet.


And although there is a sparsity of rubbish bins throughout the city, it in no way excuses the volumes of rubbish that make their way to the sides of the roads, be it either the over utilised and under maintained streets of the capital or the lesser used but still under maintained streets of Toco.


Half an hour’s rain flushes garbage off of the pavement and the sewerage and into the streets where heads of cabbage and old refrigerators compete with cars for the right of way on the roads.


It’s less about an interchange or superhighways and more about observing the traffic laws and both pedestrians and drivers having respect for each other’s rights. It’s about being able to remove the caution tape that cordons off every bit of greenery on the Brian Lara Promenade, making it look like the site of some ghastly mass murder, without having to worry about people plucking the plants to add to their own personal gardens or walking on the grass.


It’s essentially about knowing what is right and what is acceptable behaviour and observing it, without crying out to the police, teachers, army, government when the by products of our actions become intolerable.


Vision 2020 starts with each and every one of us. It must. It should not be seen as a government policy, a PNM political ploy; it must speak to everyone on a personal, communal and national level.


Unless we start thinking of development as beginning with a change in our attitudes, the next 15 years will meet us a third world country with a lot of nice buildings and roadways and a lot of failed policies and dreams.


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suszanna@hotmail.com

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"2020 Vision with rose coloured glasses"

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