ENVIRONMENT-TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: FERRY PORT PROJECT SCUTTLED

By Peter Richards

PORT OF SPAIN, Aug. 23 (IPS) -- After months of protest, the government here has announced that it is shelving plans for a $71 million ferry port development program "because of the hysteria generated within the Toco community and by activists" with no connection to the community.

"The Toco project remains at the proposal stage," Works and Transport Minister Said Baksh told Parliament recently, implying that the government might consider a site other than Toco for the port.

The idea for a port in the rural village of Toco, on the eastern side of the island, goes back to the mid-1950s.

It was originally conceived as a small harbor for servicing the fishing industry by providing shelter and access to east coast fisheries resources, as well as a base of operations for the Coast Guard.

"Such a facility need not be disruptive of natural coastal systems. A harbor on an exposed coast designed to accommodate (large) ships will be extremely disruptive," says Julian Kenny, a retired biologist and now an independent senator in the island's Parliament.

Kenny emphasized that the coastal waters of Trinidad and Tobago support a diverse range of coral reef ecosystems.

"The distribution of these is determined by physical oceanographic conditions. Toco is somewhat sheltered by the headland to the east and there is a rich community of corals and patch reefs, typical of a back reef community," said Kenny.

"There is also a rich mixture of other corals, such as brain coral and invertebrates, including sea fans, sea lilies, giant anemones and sponges," he added.

A number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including Stakeholders Against the Destruction (SAD) and Friends of the Sea, have also been critical of the plans to develop the ferry port, and have joined forces with protesting residents.

Local residents say that while they are not opposed to the idea of a ferry operating from Toco to Tobago, they are concerned about the likely negative impact on their community of a larger port installation.

"We are insisting that we want development that is in keeping with our environment," SAD said in a statement.

Appearing before Parliament, Transport Minister Baksh claimed that opposition to the project was the actions of individuals, organizations and groups "opposed to the government."

However, a recent editorial in the Express newspaper noted that "nobody took the trouble in advance to discuss these plans with the people or try to win their confidence and faith in these new developments."

"Minister Baksh may find another location but hopefully he and the government have learned that you have to consult with people when you propose overnight, and probably far-reaching, changes in their communities," the editorial said.

The government had announced plans to develop the port as a means of improving the communication links between Toco and the neighboring sister isle of Tobago.

The project, a joint venture involving a number of local firms including Lee Young and Partners, Worldwide Traders International Limited (WTI) and Tucker Marine Services, would have included the dredging of a harbor to accommodate deep-draft cruise ships, a ferry and a marina.

Also proposed were accomodations and refuelling facilities for oil tankers and additional space for a fleet of long line trawlers and a fish processing plant. The plans entailed acquiring 17 hectares of private land, as well as reclaiming another 16 hectares from the sea.

Local parliamentary representative Roger Boynes said at least 32 households, two churches and a cemetery would be displaced under the proposed project.

Boynes insisted that a proper environmental impact assessment be done, taking into consideration coastal studies, preservation and nesting grounds for turtles.

Environmentalist Eden Shand said a report by the developers that the project poses little threat to the ecology of the area was baseless. In a letter to Baksh, the environmentalist said a development contract should not be entered into until "all environmental concerns have been properly addressed and mitigation measures written into it."

The preliminary Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) by Lee Young and Partners noted that the area's ecology would be modified by dredging, reclamation, earthworks and an increase in storm water run-off, but said such works would not adversely affect the ecology of the bay.

"When the port is completed, waste from ferry and fish operations is more likely to have long-term impacts, especially upon marine ecology," the EIA stated.

SAD said an independent authority should have undertaken the EIA in order for it to have any credibility. "It's a case of himself telling himself," the NGO said.

Kenny says the United Nations International Convention on Conservation of Biological Diversity, to which Trinidad and Tobago is a party, requires a "cautionary principle" in considering major development projects.

"If we take our responsibilities under the U.N. Biological Diversity Treaty seriously, we would also be planning conservation of the (Toco) bay," he added.

The Environmental Management Authority (EMA) in its 1999 report to Parliament in May this year acknowledged that environmental laws were not being enforced in the country. It said this laxity in enforcement is evident in the inability of agencies to move from general principles to more specific standards.

Although the government approved a National Environmental Policy, most enforcement agencies have not yet adopted environmental plans and policies to deal with their specific environmental problems, the EMA report noted.