PADARATH: Rohan’s Excuses for his Incompetence is Ridiculous

Princes Town MP, Barry Padarath has once more slammed the Minister of Works and Transport, Rohan Sinanan for what he describes as ridiculous excuses for his incompetence as it relates to the landslips and poor road conditions in St. Julien.

Padarath said that he took note of the Minister’s response to questions raised in the Senate yesterday by the Opposition on the landslips and road conditions that prevented a fire appliance from reaching St. Julien via the St. Julien road in ten minutes and having to seek an alternative route that took over forty minutes.

The Princes Town MP said that instead of telling the Senate and the country when work would commence on the St. Julien road and landslips to avoid a recurrence of a major tragedy like that which took place on Sunday morning, the Minister instead chose to make ridiculous excuses about access roads not meant to carry heavy vehicles.

The MP further added that it was disingenuous of the Minister to give the Senate the impression that works were ongoing in the area since absolutely nothing has been done as it relates to the St. Julien road since the Persad Bissessar administration. He added that there was no equipment on the site, there were no visits from any geotechnical teams, there were no materials on the site and there were no advisories and or consultations with residents. Further he stated that for the Minister to tell the Senate that there are alternative routes that take the same amount of time to get to St. Julien is a complete and blatant lie since the fire appliance would have to go through New Grant which took them much longer, almost forty to forty-five minutes.

The Opposition MP said that he spoke to the Minister on Monday morning and the Minister, after two years of constantly writing to him, never had the courtesy to respond to his letters and address the issue, instead the Minister today is crying crocodile tears over the very issue he ignored for the past two years.

Padarath said that the Minister’s excuses in the Senate regarding the use and upkeep of the road was an attempt to deflect from his incompetence because emergency essential vehicles and appliances use these access roads rarely, only when there is an emergency.

He called on Sinanan to stop the histrionics, hypocrisy and crocodile tears and encouraged him to respond to MP’s in a timely and efficient manner. He reminded the Minister that many attempts were made to get him to address the situation in St. Julien and instead he waited for a major tragedy to occur before he could place any attention on sixteen landslips in St. Julien that threatens to cut off one community from another.