Lee Anna Maharaj
leeanna.maharaj@guardian.co.tt
Mayor of Port-of-Spain, Joel Martinez, is urging the perpetrators who stole the flap gate in the St. Ann’s River to return it. He called the act an appalling one that will endanger the city.
“It is really notorious when you think about it, so I appeal to the people who removed it to replace it, to give it back because it’s a $200,000 item and the city needs to have it reinstalled so that we can protect the city when we have heavy rainfalls,” Martinez pleaded.
Speaking to Guardian Media on Wednesday, Martinez said this is something that will put lives at risk during the inclement weather, which has recently caused catastrophic flooding.
“The distress that it’s going to put the average citizen that lives around that area under, it is really ridiculous and I can’t believe that someone will steal an item like that, which involves the safety of the city and the safety of the people who live around there and the distress that it would put the city under,” he added.
He referenced the recent vandalization of water pumps in the same area and said incidents like this hinder the development of the city.
“These are the things that we take years to work towards to ensure that the city is in a better place. Every time rain falls people are distressed, and the ministry of works and the city work together to try and alleviate as much as possible flooding, as much as we can get, and the thing is to have people do this, to vandalise in such a way, it is unbelievable,” Martinez said.
On Tuesday, a floodgate weighing approximately one ton was stolen from the St. Ann’s River in Port-of-Spain. Minister of Works and Transport, Rohan Sinanan, who was on the scene, said this will cause chaos for the city. Acting Director of Drainage Katherine Badloo-Doerga was also present and said with this gate missing, areas such as the Beetham Highway, the Central Market, and Picadilly can be flooded easily with heavy rainfall.
