MP pledges to clean up Laventille

LAVENTILLE East/Morvant MP Fitzgerald Hinds said yesterday he was determined to change Laventille’s image as the “crime capital” to the “cleanest part of Trinidad and Tobago.”

Hinds made this promise at the launch of a two-week clean-up campaign in the Laventille/ Morvant area. He said he was “very proud of Laventille East/ Morvant as a place, and as a constituency” but hastened to add that “in some ways, I am ashamed and embarrassed be-cause of the conduct and circumstances as made so by a few of our constituents.” Hinds said although the area had produced famous personalities over the years, it remained famous for criminal activities.  He said he was optimistic that a clean up programme will improve the physical environment and make the place “lighter and cleaner.”

Praising the Community-based Environmental  Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP), Hinds said he could without any remorse, say that Trinidad and Tobago and the Laventille/Morvant area “was a much cleaner and healthier environment.” The PNM MP drew laughter from the crowd when he declared that while the police was launching an attack on crime, “we are launching an attack on grime and I am the commissioner of clean-up for these purposes.” He added that he had the support of many persons and organisations which had joined for a common purpose, and this “would not be a Baghdad operation, but simply a massive clean-up operation” to get rid of roaches, rodents and mosquitoes.

When he was asked whether government had allocated funds for the venture, Hinds said various programmes and persons had indicated their willingness to lend financial aid to this initiative. Coordinator of the project, Codrington Calliste, appealed for similar projects in other communities to reduce heavy flooding during the rainy season. He said the committee had several other projects planned to bring residents of the area together and urged them to get rid of all the old garbage lying around their premises. Calliste said this would create unity as “it is time to take back our community.” CEO of the Solid Waste Management Company Limited (SWMCOL) Ray Brathwaite said the company was discussing the move from “trash to cash” as well as recycling.

Brathwaite challenged “the commissioner of grime” to use this project to add momentum to the recycling campaign by SWMCOL, and assured the gathering that none of the CEPEP contractors were involved in criminal activities. He claimed that “once something is good, and powerful, and blessed, people are going to find all kinds of ways to ruin it.” He also said “CEPEP is the best thing to happen to this country in a while” and had created new jobs, in addition to enhancing  the physical environment, and improving work ethics. Brathwaite said SWMCOL planned to fund an essay competition for schools on environmental issues.