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Story Created: Apr 30, 2014 at 11:07 PM ECT
Story Updated: May 1, 2014 at 10:36 AM ECT
AT least a dozen large industrial companies in the Chaguaramas area were last week served with notices of eviction by the Chaguaramas Development Authority (CDA), informing them to move out in one week’s time, one of the affected parties has claimed.
Captain Ronald Wild, of the Caribbean Fisheries Training and Development Institute (CFTDI), yesterday stated that the organisation has until tomorrow to move out.
Some 68 CFTDI employees are said to be affected by the move.
The workers, accompanied by their union, the Public Services Association (PSA), and its president Watson Duke yesterday protested outside the CDA’s head office at Airways Road, Chaguaramas.
CDA chief executive officer Joycelin Hargreaves said the authority was not about taking the “law into our own hands” and all the legal processes have been adhered to.
According to an e-mail correspondence to the Express, Wild said “last week, on Friday, 12 industries in Chaguaramas were informed by CDA that we had one week to remove ourselves from our places of business”.
Wild is a technical instructor at Caribbean Fisheries Training and Development Institute, which is “a governmental training facility that teaches mariners, fishermen and many others. Last year we taught 600 people”, he stated.
“Ours was not the only one served to vacate. Our buildings are not run down and as far as I know our rent has always been paid since 1975. Caridoc, or Caribbean Drydock, the Salt Factory next door, that has been operational since the 40s, Mariners Haven, which supplies support to the offshore oil industry, and Tardieu Marine are just a few that were told to leave immediately,” said Wild.
“There is something very strange in the way this is transpiring. No one has been given a reason for this evacuation. We are governmental and under the Ministry of Food and Marine Resources,” he added. “The CDA apparently ranks above our level. Those that will suffer are in the thousands. The offshore and deep-sea industry, yachting, fishing, training and marine support services will all be drastically affected.”
Employees at CFTDI found out about the eviction notice yesterday, said Duke.
“The CDA has served the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Food Production an eviction notice dated May 2. The workers got a hold of the document and invited the union to advise them accordingly. We were totally flabbergasted by it, we had no idea, no one told us anything.”
Duke said the workers are “quite concerned” by the development.
“What really caused us to stir into action is that these two Government entities seem to be collaborating without the knowledge of workers, so workers are living in fear daily.”
Duke met with Hargreaves yesterday and intends to meet with Minister of Food Production Devant Maharaj to discuss the issue.
“They locked out the farmers already and if they lock out these workers they should expect bacchanal in the peninsula,” Duke said.
Hargreaves told the Express discussions between CDA tenants has been ongoing.
“The mandate of the CDA is about the development of the peninsula using a self-sustainable model. CDA’s mandate also dictates that with that development it has to be balanced, in other words it is not about profit, it is about development that would include people, create job opportunities, would create business and as such have an overall economic impact on Trinidad and Tobago.
“To do that you must have a proper plan and that plan is what CDA has undertaken to do and it has started. It also means that we have to look at how we do business and ensure that we conduct our business in a way that is efficient and as well as to serve all our stakeholders to ensure the overall objective,” Hargreaves said.
“What has happened over the years, which is very unfortunate, development has not been balanced, CDA has not been open to all. It was not a level playing field and we are about correcting that wrong and to correct that wrong means we have to ensure that those who occupy the spaces via a legal or lease agreement must operate in the confines of that lease agreement.
“In the past that was not done, the CDA never conducted proper compliance and that impacted on the environment, it impacted on the bottom line, we also found that there no balance in that the land only seemed to be accessible by just a few...that is not what the Government is about, that is not what CDA is about, it is about including as much people and including a wide participation as possible. It means we have to rationalise our space, we have to ensure that the tenants use the space that was rented to them,” she said.
Hargreaves said the CDA was aimed at making the Chaguaramas area open for all.
pete wrote:Will be interesting to see how this plays out. I wonder if it's only companies with ties to *edit* a particular political party*edit*.
bluespeed wrote:pete wrote:Will be interesting to see how this plays out. I wonder if it's only companies with ties to *edit* a particular political party*edit*.
no son..... you could........ unc,pnm,njac, white, black or in-between... dey want to move yuh!....if you watch on a map where all these Business are located is prime shore property.
one man causing all this shitt.
zoom rader wrote:I believe it's the same small group of a ppl that tried this chit some time ago and Manning had to put a stop to it.
They basically want a country club zone in that area, u know keep the golliwogs and dahl bellies out as they did with club coconuts and genesis
eurotuner wrote:The Military Museum got served too, real Bachanal ting.
RASC wrote:bluespeed wrote:pete wrote:Will be interesting to see how this plays out. I wonder if it's only companies with ties to *edit* a particular political party*edit*.
no son..... you could........ unc,pnm,njac, white, black or in-between... dey want to move yuh!....if you watch on a map where all these Business are located is prime shore property.
one man causing all this shitt.
Who is...
Devant: Fisheries will not be evicted from Chaguaramas
By Joel Julien
Story Created: May 1, 2014 at 9:26 PM ECT
Story Updated: May 1, 2014 at 11:09 PM ECT
FOOD Production Minister Devant Maharaj yesterday expressed confidence that the Caribbean Fisheries Training and Development Institute (CFTDI) would not be evicted from its Chaguaramas base today, despite claims that an eviction notice has been received from the Chaguaramas Development Authority (CDA) giving that deadline date.
CFTDI claimed it received an eviction notice from the CDA last Friday informing it that the institute has until today to move out.
At least 11 other large industrial companies in the Chaguaramas area were also served notices of eviction, according to Captain Ronald Wild of CFTDI.
But CDA chief executive officer Joycelin Hargreaves, in a release issued yesterday, “strongly denied” those claims.
Following news of the possible eviction notice, employees at the CFTDI, accompanied by their union, the Public Services Association (PSA) and its president Watson Duke, protested outside the CDA’s head office at Airways Road in Chaguaramas on Wednesday.
Some 68 CFTDI employees are said to be affected by the move.
On Wednesday, Duke met with Hargreaves to discuss the situation.
Duke is also expected to meet with Minister Maharaj to discuss the issue as CFTDI is under the purview of the Food Production Ministry.
Maharaj yesterday said he had no news of an eviction notice being served on CFTDI, but assured that “amicable discussions” surrounding a relocation have been ongoing for several months.
Maharaj said a site for relocation has not been earmarked as yet, but several options are currently being looked at.
Maharaj said he discussed the matter with Planning Minister Dr Bhoe Tewarie.
Contacted yesterday, Tewarie referred the Express to the CDA.
The CDA strongly denied the claims that a dozen tenants have been served eviction notices and are required to vacate the premises by today.
This claim “unfairly portrays” the Authority in a “negative light”, the CDA stated.
“The CDA reiterates that the Authority continues to follow the law, and all actions are only taken after mutually beneficial dialogue has been concluded with all the affected parties.
“The CDA’s mandate is about balanced development of the peninsula using a self-sustainable model. It is not about profit, but about development that would include people, create jobs and new business opportunities,” the CDA’s release added.
“In the past, development has not been balanced on the peninsula, and Chaguaramas has not been open to all. We are now moving to address this by making sure that all tenants who occupy the land spaces in Chaguaramas comply with all regulatory and land use requirements. The CDA is about including as many people in the development process and promoting wider participation in opportunities. Our focus is to rationalise and plan our land use, ensuring that tenants’ use the spaces allocated for the purposes for which they were intended,” it stated.
pete wrote:So how the papers haven't published a scan of the "alleged" eviction notice? Or is this just the usual political mischief to be expected in the year leading up to elections?
SR wrote:Imagine the resort development possibilities
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