“Everyone expects the Ministry of Works and Transport to jump start the construction industry,” Sinanan said, adding, “Because when we start building highways and bridges, drains and upgrading infrastructure, this means job creation.” “We all know that we are facing hard times but by digging deep and focusing on getting the work done, we can fix the problems we currently face,” he said.

Sinanan was addressing an indoor public meeting at the San Fernando City Hall Auditorium, Harris Promenade, San Fernando on Tuesday night.

He said three major projects – the restarting of the San Fernando to Point Fortin highway; the Churchill Roosevelt highway extension to Manzanilla and the Port of Spain/ East-West corridor transportation project were expected to be started in the current fiscal year.

He said the long awaited San Fernando to Point Fortin highway was expected to restart by mid-April and would create thousands of jobs as local contractors were engaged on the project.

Sinanan said the projects planned included the mapping for the Valencia to Toco highway, which was expected to begin by 2018, and would coincide with the construction of the Toco fast ferry port while the ferry terminal in Tobago was also being designed.

He also stated that legislation to streamline the operations at licensing department saying the “lawlessness on the road will be stopped.” Also addressing the meeting was Attorney General Faris Al- Rawi who gave an outline of the government’s legislative agenda including land law and civil asset forfeiture bills to stem white collar crime.

This programme has achieved no results, none whatsoever that justifies the millions of dollars spent monthly on people patrolling in comfort.

The programme was launched in 2014 and as of October 2015, it received around $65 million. The burden on the State in terms of money paid to the private security companies included capital and recurrent costs associated with staffing, leasing of vehicles, establishment of command centres, expansion of existing GPS and wireless communications systems, training, and related administrative overheads.

It is no surprise however that an Opposition MP is calling for a return of this programme.

The UNC government implemented the CCP and paid top dollar to private security companies to patrol communities.

It would be disappointing if somebody is looking for the usual political payday as opposed to trying to catch criminals by calling for a return of this programme in our current economic circumstances.

This programme was launched in an attempt to improve the perception of crime in communities by citizens.

The country was broken up into 15 sectors and the CCP has patrols in each community including Tobago West and East.

The move by the PNM Government to cease the operations and funding for this programme on December 3, 2016, is both strategic and highly necessary. In these tough economic times we cannot afford to pay out millions of dollars to a programme that is at best a smokescreen for comforting citizens.

Our detection and prosecution rates have not improved. The UNC government launched this programme in 2014 and increased the allocation by a further $4.5 million in January 2015. According to a newspaper report, at the time three companies were contracted — Protective Agencies Ltd, Amalgamated Security Services Ltd and Innovative Security Technologies Ltd.

There is one report of a Tobago man being killed by a CCP vehicle in an accident where the CCP driver lost control of the vehicle.

The second public CCP act that received attention was the odd occasion when two officers delivered a baby.

Although there have been positions advanced with regard to public/private sector initiatives as international common practice in some territories, we are no longer able to afford this expensive partnership.

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani recommended, when he visited TT to advise on crime, that the police increase their patrols and outdoor presence as the service has enough manpower.

Ronald Huggins St Joseph

Do products that are similar to your idea exist? If so, where are they sold? Who is buying them? Answering these questions will give an idea of the target market, as well as, what needs to be done differently to stand out from competitors.

Even well-known companies engage in conducting market research. Take for example Lego which has been a toy geared toward boys for many years. In a study done by the company, it was reported that only 9% of the primary users of the toy were female.

Upon seeing this, the company decided to come out with a new product to entice more girls to play with Legos. Market research was undertaken and upon conclusion, Lego came out with a new line of toys on January 1, 2012 called ‘Friends’. The colours used were more vibrant and figurines were made slightly bigger to accommodate accessories such as hairbrushes and purses.

Another important step in taking the idea forward is assessing the novelty of the idea. It is crucial to ensure that your idea is not infringing upon someone else’s intellectual property. Intellectual property refers to the expressed creation of the human mind and includes patents, trademarks, copyright and industrial designs.

A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention which is a product or a process that either provides a new way of doing something or offers a new technical solution to a problem. The television, for example, was invented by John Baird in 1925 (US Patent No 1699270). Another example is the computer mouse invented by Douglas Engelbert in 1970 (US Patent No 3,541,541).

An industrial design is the ornamental aspect of a useful article. The shapes of many ergonomically designed pieces of furniture, tools, tool handles, boat hulls and sunglasses for example are some of the shapes protected by an industrial design.

Another form of intellectual property protection is trademark which is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one trader from those of other traders.

Copyright is a property right, which subsists in literary and artistic works that are original intellectual creations.

Works covered by copyright include novels, poems, plays, computer programmes, paintings, drawings, photographs and musical compositions.

The third step in taking your idea to market is the development of a demonstration model or pretotype. Many times, persons spend significant time and money in developing a fully-fledged prototype, only to realize that there is little or no demand for their product.

What can be done instead is a simple cost effective mockup which shows the idea in operation and can be made with easily accessible items, for example, paper clips, scotch tape, cardboard.

3D printing can also be done.

Once the market demand has been confirmed and the legal path is clear, there are two pathways to commercialisation. The first pathway is business start-up, this means the individual creates and sell the product himself/ herself. This may include paying a third party to manufacture the product. The second pathway is via licensing. Many persons do not have the resources to get a business off the ground and may therefore decide to exploit the expertise of an existing company, in terms of market experience, distribution channels and manufacturing to commercialize the idea.

The risk of starting a company is traded for a royalty payment or a percentage that the company generates from the sale of the product.

CARIRI has recognized that there are many persons with innovative ideas but do not know how to move their ideas forward. The Idea Advisory Service (IAS) is a platform through which persons can submit their ideas confidentially for screening.

The IAS:

• Assesses novelty of the idea and advises on which intellectual property tool would be the most relevant in securing the idea;

• Evaluates market demand and identifies and strengthens the benefits of the idea to the target market;

• Assists in the development of a pretotype where necessary;

• Identify and networks with potential licensees;

• Negotiates licensing agreements.

CARIRI provides an extensive range of services and facilities to serve a wide range of industries and has existing networks within our reach, including the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations (WAITRO) of which CARIRI is a founding member.

For more information about the IAS, visit www.cariri.

com and click on IAS – Idea Submission Form or contact us at 299-0209 ext 2210

Police said the killers used a cradle (a metal car part) and pig foot (a tool used in masonry or carpentry) to commit the gruesome crime. Police recovered both weapons yesterday behind the school compound which is surrounded by bushes.

Investigators further believe the Form Four student was killed elsewhere and his body dumped in the drain still clad in school uniform.

The body was lying face-up and his school bag nearby in the drain. The school is located at Raymond Jurawan Street off the Waterloo Main Road in Carapichaima.

On Monday at 8.45 pm, his mother Sharon Bickaroo reported him missing to the Freeport Police Station. Reports are that he left the school around midday that day and schoolmates last saw him alive standing at St Mary’s Junction at 2 pm.

Beephan lived at Heliconia Drive in Roystonia, Couva with his parents and younger sister.

Jesse’s father Shakar Beephan has a construction business.

Relatives made the discovery at about 11 am, 300 feet away from the school where classes were in session. A party of officers from the Freeport Police Station, Homicide Bureau (Region III) and the Anti Kidnapping Unit visited the scene. The officers included Cpls Smith, Williams and Gordon together with PCs Mohammed, Katray, Hall, Morgan and Boxill.

Although classes continued as normal while police processed the scene, staff members later addressed students telling of an “early dismissal at 1.30 pm” without offering any further explanation. No mention was made about the discovery but word spread among the students thanks to social media posts which they read on their cellular phones.

A student told Newsday that Beephan was not supposed to be in school on Monday because examinations were in progress for subjects he did not take as part of his study course.

The teen’s uncle, Sieuchan Beephan, 41, said the entire family was left in a state of shock and deep sorrow over Beephan’s death.

“Since Jesse went missing, the family never received any calls from him or anyone concerning his whereabouts. The parents are in a state right now,” Beephan said. Other relatives described Beephan as “a quiet boy.” Beephan is the second 16-year-old school pupil to be killed while in uniform this year.

On January 13, Rachael Ramkissoon of North Eastern College in Sangre Grande was found dead in bushes still clad in her school uniform. A hunter stumbled upon her body at Balata Trace in San Raphael. An autopsy revealed she was strangled.

Member of Parliament for Couva South Rudranath Indarsingh, in extending condolences to Beephan’s family, said blame for the pain, trauma and suffering they are feeling lies squarely on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.

In a press release, the Opposition MP accused Government of failing “to arrest the spiralling crime situation since attaining office in September, 2015.” He added that yet another young citizen’s life has been violently snuffed out and asked, “How many more of our young sons and daughters must die before this Government institutes joint police/army patrols in Couva and the rest of the country?”

Kizzia Luann Charles was immediately taken to hospital for medical treatment shortly after being found.

Though in a dazed state, the woman told police that sometime on Sunday she was approached by a woman driving a black Nissan Xtrail SUV near the Arima market.

The driver asked for directions to the Licensing Office in Arima.

Charles said she gave the woman directions but the driver asked if she (Charles) would accompany her to Licensing. Not suspecting anything, Charles agreed to go with the woman in her vehicle but on entering it, she was overpowered by a man who sat in the back and was brandishing a gun. What happened next was all a blur.

Charles, police sources said, recalled that sometime on Tuesday night she was taken to the Manzanilla beach by her abductors who attempted to put her in a boat which contained men speaking Spanish.

The boat’s engine stalled and after failing to get it to work, the abductors took Charles to another area of the beach. Charles believes she was again drugged and then abandoned. When she came to her senses at 10 am yesterday, Charles alerted a passerby who contacted the Manzanilla police.

Officers of the Counter Trafficking Unit were also alerted and the victim is expected to be interviewed today. Relatives of the woman were yesterday contacted and hurried to the Manzanilla police station bringing with them food and clean clothing.

Investigations are ongoing.

WHERE IS SHARLENE? While Charles’ relatives are today breathing a sigh of relief, now that she has been found alive, relatives of another woman are continuing their search for her and praying they will find her unharmed. Police said that Sharlene Somai, 23, was last seen on Tuesday at 8 pm in front her Petersfield, Chaguanas home. At the time, she was wearing a brown vest, short pants and brown slippers.

Newsday understands that her cell phone was left behind on the front porch of her home. Checks later for the missing young women proved futile and a Missing Person report was filed at the Chaguanas Police Station. Anyone with information on Somai’s whereabouts is asked to contact the nearest police station. Investigations are continuing.

Born on March 19, 1942, Harris has been a priest for 48 years and bishop for five years, within the Order of the Holy Ghost Fathers.

He was appointed tenth Archbishop of Port-of-Spain on December 8, 2011, succeeding American-born Archbishop Edward Gilbert.

Harris has worked in Canada, Paraguay and Chicago, is fluent in Spanish and holds a Doctorate in Church Administration, a Master’s Degree in Theology and a License in Canon Law. In a Facebook Live interview, he disclosed the fact of his resignation letter and use the occasion to again voice his objection to the death penalty.

“I have sent my resignation in. I delivered it to the (papal) nuncio a few days before my 75th birthday. I am told it’s already been sent to Rome, so I await what the pope will say.” When a reporter suggested he stay on, Harris replied, “I don’t mind spending some more time with you.” He recalled his stances on issues of Remand Yard conditions, child marriage and the death penalty, speaking at length on the latter, to urge that people’s conscience be raised.

“If the death penalty is reinstated, at the end of it, having hanged two people or three people, what does that do to our nation? I remember the same Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj when Dole Chadee and his gang were hanged, there was a pall hanging over Trinidad and Tobago for days. There was a lot of people writing and saying how awful it felt and how barbaric it felt to hang nine people in two days. It wasn’t something that brightened the soul of our people and truly it had no lasting effect.” Asked if he did not think the reinstatement of the death penalty reflects the will of the population, he said, “No. I think it reflects the will of a group of people who are rather loudmouthed.” Asked if advocates of hanging see it as an “easy route” instead of making efforts at systemic changes, he agreed, “Yes, it is. If the causes of crime and violence are not attended to, crime and violence will continue.

“Hanging will not stop drugs from coming into the country.

Hanging will not stop people fighting for ‘turf ’, and so the murders will continue.

“And you ask yourself, who brings in the drugs and who brings in the guns? It is not the poor boys from Laventille and Sea Lots and wherever else in Trinidad. They don’t have the money to do that,” Fr Harris said.

He made the statement during a public meeting at the San Fernando City Hall Auditorium, Harris Promenade, San Fernando on Tuesday night.

Addressing a large crowd which spilled out into the adjoining corridor, Rowley took issue with UNC Senator Wade Mark’s description of government’s drawdown of US $251 million from the HSF as a raid saying instead there were specific criteria for drawdowns to take place.

“The Stabilisation Fund is specifically for the purpose that if we find ourselves losing revenue in oil and gas, there is a formula in the law that you could access this savings to take out some of that money to make up for the loss of the revenue,” Rowley said, adding, “that is the law, the Fund is there, it’s like a savings.” “You have savings and you find yourself on hard times, you wouldn’t squander your savings but you would dip into it a little bit because you are required to keep body and soul together,” he said.

“So all this dotish talk about raiding the Fund, and doing as though the government is doing something wrong, people of Trinidad and Tobago, you should go to bed and sleep soundly.

We are not raiding the Fund, we are managing your affairs.” He said the Fund had increased by US $301 million dollars between May 2016 and March 2017 with a net value of US $5.72 billion dollars.

Rowley also touched on the natural gas shortages which had forced the closure of at least two plants at the Point Lisas Industrial Estate saying the previous government had known of the situation and, despite the shortages, had entered into a separate commitment with a Japanese company to supply gas. “In August 2015, when the gas situation was well known to all and sundry, in trying to give the impression that something was happening, they approved a new gas-consuming plant at La Brea.” He said the company had asked for first take of any gas in the country.

“The last government agreed to that. And if the plant has no gas to produce the product to sell to pay the loan in Japan, the NGC would take over the entire loan, billions of dollars,” he said, adding, “the government agreed to that.” Rowley said the country was able to get out of the agreement only after there was a change in government in 2015 and Minister Stuart Young had travelled to Japan to renegotiate the contract.

He said the gas situation was being addressed by the ruling administration despite the gas supply agreement with Venezuela being undermined by the Opposition party.

“The Trinidad opposition, the UNC opposition is driving a conversation to Venezuela, to the Opposition over there that this matter must be dealt with by the National Assembly where the President (Nicolas Maduro) doesn’t have a majority.” He said this was a ploy to derail the gas agreement deal and prevent Venezuelan gas from being shipped to Trinidad to stabilise supplies.

“This deal with Venezuela is the best thing any government could have accomplished in Trinidad and Tobago,” he said, adding that the meeting with several energy companies in Houston next week was also needed to maintain Trinidad’s level of gas consumption for the downstream energy sector.

We need a clearer understanding, for instance, of the situation as it relates to cancer, cardiovascular diseases and NCDs like diabetes.

We also need to understand the resources currently available and whether these resources are being put to effective use. Are there enough doctors, nurses? Are there enough beds? Do we have adequate equipment? This includes an examination of the views of the people who matter most: the patients and the medical officials.

These are issues that must now be addressed in light of the statements made by Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh. The minister, addressing the formal opening of the Women’s Outpatient Clinics and Colposcopy Centre in Mt Hope on Tuesday, disclosed that several pieces of the puzzle are missing.

“We do not have a functional cancer registry,” Deyalsingh said.

“There is no data so we do not know how many patients we have with cancer — cervical, prostate, breast, lung — so how does Nipdec (National Insurance Property Development Company Ltd) determine how much drugs to buy? How do you forecast for drugs? For the first time, money has been allocated to bring the cancer registry up to date on software and we would have data on all other diseases.” Without adequate data, the Ministry of Health is playing in the dark. It is essential that the State understands the current lay of the land in order to respond. Further, data is also needed to gauge the effectiveness of any measures adopted.

Tracking the data is essential if the efficacy of intervention is to be gauged and if trends and projections are to be made, a process that is vital to long-term planning and budgeting.

There are other areas where data would be vital, such as quality control. All of these issues are of importance as they relate to the ability of the State to support a productive society. As the minister pointed out, not only is there a cost for the State when patients have to be treated, but there is also a cost to the economy when people must spend time seeking treatment and when they are dogged by health concerns that hinder their productivity.

Entire families are affected when people fall ill.

And treatment is sometimes more expensive than prevention, meaning people have less disposable income to spend on other areas of the economy. Even with the State paying some of the costs, there are myriad personal costs.

None of this expenditure benefits local manufacturers as most drugs are imported. While local medical facilities and private medical practices may benefit, they suffer in the long run by functioning in an economy that is sick.

If what the minister has reported about the level of diabetes is true, this is truly disturbing. According to Deyalsingh, doctors are seeing younger patients with this disease each year because people are becoming sedentary. There needs to be a proper examination of statistics (assuming they can be obtained) to determine if this is the case. It is a disturbing sign when, notwithstanding the flood of publicity efforts that have been made, younger generations are falling prey to preventable diseases.

It must be emphasised that whatever the state of the State’s healthcare system, the onus is on the citizen to try his or her best to remain healthy. This involves using all the information-gathering tools available — the Internet has made health data more accessible than ever — and developing healthy habits. We endorse the minister’s call for more people to take a proactive role in safeguarding their health. But the State, too, has to get its act in order when it comes to data- gathering.

On Friday we woke up to the unwelcome news that the Caribbean’s greatest living poet had unburdened himself of bodily life on Earth. It was not totally unexpected, as he had been ailing for some time, never mind the amount of work he still managed to produce.

His paintings still came and so did the poems.

His last published work was Morning, Paramin in which he collaborated with renowned artist Peter Doig to produce a final testament to his bond with Trinidad.

The book includes poems named Santa Cruz, Moruga, Maracas and Gran Riviere, as well as Paramin.

In Santa Cruz III he writes that “Art can make us love two countries with one heart, not separately either, but blent: one cloud, one country, one continent.” In Morning, Paramin Walcott and Doig engage in a sort of call and response to each other’s work.

In the poem Peter, I’m Glad You Asked Me Along, Walcott writes about Trinidad: Everything is wrong as all forms miss perfection, hence the mask in which the whole society is based: all its endeavour is composed in song because I love the place in spite of it for its immense variety of racial voice, and wished I knew all of its languages and observed all its customs with one voice; this craziness is just where we belong – where else have you heard such music, such great noise.

Angelo Bissessarsingh may have had one advantage over the Nobel laureate because although he only lived three decades in Trinidad he probably got to know all its languages.

He certainly observed all its customs, scratching around looking where we no longer look to find gems that fascinated us. Angelo, many years ago, took my mother and I to see the resting place of her great grandfather and her long forgotten family in a cemetery in San Fernando.

We were fascinated by his easy knowledge that he shared with great appetite. His virtual museum will last forever and his books and newspaper columns have awakened a keen interest in the most unsuspecting people. Virtual Glimpses Into the Past/Snapshots of the History of Trinidad and Tobago has been shortlisted for the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature non-fiction category, the very first time that a writer has died between the book being entered and judged.

Angelo defied death that stalked him, stealing extra time, even making it, to all our disbelief and pleasure, to take part in the NGC Bocas Lit Fest South on San Fernando Hill in November 2015.

It may have been his last public appearance. Walcott wrote about our limited time with life and how unprepared we are when it ends, “Even you could be part of the increasing loss that is the daily dial of the revolving shade.” In the same poem in White Egrets he observed, “The more surprising the death the deeper the love, the tougher the life.” And so it is for many with the sudden death of Giselle Rampaul.

She was just about age 40 and had gone to hospital for a routine operation that ended in her being stolen from us. Giselle was an extraordinary woman. A unique Shakespeare specialist well known to that academic fraternity, adored by all her UWI students and it seems everyone else whose lives she touched.

She was a mainstay of the annual literary festival, recording interviews with local and visiting writers for Spaces Between Words, a valuable digital sound museum of contemporary Caribbean writing, which she founded. The interviews are available, free, as podcasts on the website spaceswords.

com.

The NGC Bocas Lit Fest will remember them April 26-30 at NALIS.

Seekumar Dalchan was found with his hands bound by a friend yesterday at 9 am. He was last seen alive on Sunday by close friends. But when people tried to reach him by phone, they got no answer. On Monday when friends passed in front his house, they noticed one of his cars, a grey Nissan AD Wagon, was missing.

A worried friend yesterday went to his house to pay him a visit only to make the discovery.

Dalchan, police said, was found in one of the bedrooms of his house, face down in a pool of blood, with his hands and feet tied.

Close friends told Newsday that Dalchan was originally from Guyana and lived in this country for more than 25 years. The victim was described as a friendly, humble man who was a devout Hindu. Police are working on the theory that Dalchan may have been killed during a robbery.

Newsday understands that in addition to the missing car, two television sets were also stolen.

Police are hoping that video footage recorded via CCTV camera at Dalchan’s house could assist them in making a breakthrough in the case. The body was later removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for autopsy.

The murder toll now stands at 108 for the year so far. No arrest has been made and investigations are continuing.