Chairman of the Diego Martin Regional Corporation Sigler Jack, has come out in defense of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and has accused certain sections of the media of concocting its version of events when the PM made “a very clear case” for local government reform.
During the handover of the SKinner Park last week, Dr Rowley, spoke of the deficiencies with regional corporations and seemed to throw the Diego corporation under the bus for its inability to fix the issue at his Goodwood Park property solely.
However, Jack said the PM’s words were taken out of context.
He said: “The prime minister was not bashing the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation, the Siparia or Diego Martin corporations, the latter of which he spoke about. He was making a clear and categorical case for local government reform in the context of monies collected from property tax and other revenue sources could provide all 14 corporations with financial resources to get their work done.”
Jack said it is no secret that financial resources allocated to the 14 corporations are inadequate.
Jack said a storm drain between the PM and his next-door neighbour’s property was too narrow to accommodate the volume of water now passing through especially as the surrounding land higher up, from the PM’s home, was now developed and accommodating many houses.
He said Rowley alerted the corporation about the issue and the corporation along with the Ministry of Works and Transport and other agencies pooled resources to reconfigure the area in order to resolve the issue at Goodwood Park – not only for the PM but for the community which could be affected by these landslides. The estimate for this scope of work, Jack said, is still being worked out.
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