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PADARATH: DOMA’S PLIGHT NOT LIMITED TO PORT OF SPAIN
Posted On 01 Apr 2023
MP for Princes Town, Barry Padarath has responded to the statement made by the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA) which sought to make public their water woes with empathy, saying that he and his fellow MP’s know firsthand how frustrating it is to go for months without water, incur additional costs to pay for truck borne water and have the authorities ignore your calls, as this is also the plight of many home-owners and businesses in South and Central Trinidad.
The Shadow Minister for Public Utilities stated that, while he felt for the persons in Port of Spain, he hopes that this experience will convince all groups in Trinidad and Tobago to speak up even before the problems reach your doorstep, knowing now that the problems on one side of the island will, without fail, spread throughout the country like a cancer. He added that this situation creates a lack of productivity and affects commerce in an already challenging business environment.
Turning his attention to Minister Gonzales, Padarath stated that the level of incompetence coming out of this Minister has gone from him not knowing that leaks affect water supply, to the nation reading that WASA was baffled as to the cause of no water supply. Padarath stated that for the past eight years the government has been promising to improve the water sector and since then to now, very little has happened in this regard. He has called for the Minister to indicate whether the Transformation Plan for WASA is meeting its targets.
The Shadow Minister said he was happy to hear that WASA finally figured out the cause of no water, after 3 months and hoped that they would now end all excuses and rectify not only the issues in Port of Spain, but throughout the country.
Padarath added that under the leadership of Kamla Persad-Bissessar, citizens saw 24/7 pipe borne water delivery moved from 22% in 2010 to 74% in September 2014, which means the reason for lack of water supply is clear – “this Government is incompetent and must go if citizens are to return to a proper standard of living.”
