Lights at Orange Valley Recreation Ground

Public Utilities Minister, Nizam Baksh (3rd from left) congratulates Orange Valley Village Council President, Mukesh Babooram as lights on the Orange Valley Recreation Ground are turned on for the fist time

ORANGE Valley residents saw a night filled with lights, weeks before the celebration of Divali, as the Trinidad & Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) officially illuminated the Orange Valley Recreation Ground on Tuesday.

$685,292.00 was spent on this project which brought the total number of grounds lit under the Ministry of Public Utilities (MPU) Public Lighting Programme to 233 since its inception in 2005.

“233 communities now have enhanced facilities with state of the art lights and they are now able to extend the daily life span of all their activities, especially as it relates to sports and cultural activities, way into the night, as facilitated by these beautifully lit grounds”, said Minister of Public Utilities, Nizam Baksh in his feature address.

Baksh acknowledged the contribution of his staff at MPU and T&TEC to the success of the project and recognized the tireless representation made by Couva North MP, Ramona Ramdial on behalf of her constituents.

Ramdial in her address said, “I would like to thank T&TEC for this, the 6th recreation ground lighting project in Couva North within the past four years and thank Minister Baksh for his cooperation with all MPs in getting grounds identified and lit.”

She recalled the murder of six-year-old Sean Luke from Orange Valley in 2006 and said, “The newly lit grounds should attract the young people of area to play nightly sport which would serve to keep them out of crime. If these facilities had existed, then probably the tragic incident of that murder could have been avoided”.

Ramdial thanked the People’s Partnership Government for creating an enabling environment for the residents of Orange Valley and promised to continue working in the best interests of the people of Couva North. END