Rowley: Individual preferences not before public interest

Speaking to reporters Rowley said he was not surprised by the negative responses to the PoS East Development Project since “we have a penchant in this country for talking before thinking.” “On one hand we in the PNM are accused of being in the Government for decades and of doing nothing for East Port-of-Spain and leaving them in their condition, and now we come to change that and are being attacked for changing it,” he said.

Told that one of the concerns people had was that several Government housing projects had evolved into “slums,” Rowley replied: “If you make mistakes in the past you don’t have to repeat them. But we do have issues to deal with now. Certainly one option that is not available is to leave it (East Port-of-Spain) the way it is.”

He said Government would take on board all these issues of concern. He added that Government did not just wake up one morning with the idea of redeveloping East PoS. Its planners were put to work before the project was formulated. Asked whether he expected some political fallout in the PoS East area, traditionally a PNM stronghold, Rowley said all over the world housing was an emotive political and social issue. “That is par for the course,” he said. However, he stressed, Government was required to show leadership and plan properly, to have a sense of purpose and to execute efficiently.

He said PoS East, just as Barrackpore, Tobago and every other area in the country had its own problems.

And it was up to Government to bring that balance and management and concern to development, he said.