Article A8 · Book 1 · Scrapbook page p.8
Long-term planning needed for Cedros
FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 1970
MR. RICHARDSON has been unusually forthright, for a politician, in speaking about the complaints of his constituents at Cedros. While his explanation convinces one that Cedros has at least not been forgotten and neglected by him, one still feels that a good deal will have to be done, and fast, to make any kind of serious dent on some of the problems of the district.
Why not sooner?
That there are problems, not even Mr. Richardson was prepared to deny. And this should at least silence those critics of Government who are always ready to argue that the DLP constituencies are the most neglected areas in the country. Not that it is acceptable as an excuse or even an explanation of the situation at Cedros.
Mr. Richardson's approach to the problem reflects the kind of pragmatism one would expect of any seasoned politician. It does appear that our writer of the series of articles on Cedros has tended to pooh-pooh his efforts too easily. There is considerable merit in this very direct move to give the people what they are asking for.
Of course, one can quite reasonably ask why this kind of action did not come sooner and it may be concluded, perhaps unreasonably, that it has only come about because of the pressure which is building up into the protest mas' the residents plan to put on in Port-of-Spain on Carnival Monday.
Vote of thanks
Why, for instance, has nothing yet been done about the hospital which was closed down two years ago? Why are discussions only now going on with the intention of providing lands for peasant farming?
Why have the lands for housing remained idle for so many years? Why, in fact, have basic needs been ignored for such a long time? One can think of the community centre and of fishing facilities, both promised years ago but not yet provided.
Mr. Richardson, by his own admission, has been aware of the problems and has been making representations. The Village Council at Bonasse has even passed a vote of thanks to him for his efforts. Yet if matters can reach the stage they have at Cedros it would seem that he has been running up against a wall every time Government was approached about these problems.
And it cannot be argued that Government has not known about these, since Cedros boasts of dozens of visits by Ministers and senior Government officials over the last two years. But the fact is that rural problems hardly seem to have made any impact on our urban planners and policy-makers who are increasingly required to address themselves to grave national and international problems.
The Development Plan itself speaks of the need to encourage economic activity in depressed rural areas as one way of arresting the population drift which is aggravating housing and unemployment problems in the towns. But like so many ideas in the Plan, this one seems to be still-born.
As yet no strategy for rural development has been implemented. The community centres everywhere have filled an obvious social need, but there is a conspicuous lack of any kind of economic activity at the village level to provide employment for people in rural areas.
The "Crash Programme" and Better Village projects which have provided occasional jobs and set a standard for higher wages in rural areas, must be excluded from the kind of "self-sustaining" economic activity which Government wants to encourage. What is needed is a whole lot of fresh ideas on what to do by way of creating employment opportunities among our village communities.
This should offer excellent prospects for the expansion of the Small Business drive this year. A number of cottage industries—fruit processing and handicraft, for instance—may be started with even less than the $50,000 minimum which the IDC has set down. One can hardly overlook the value of community participation in such activities.
Wrong once again
In Cedros there is a crying need for long-term planning in this direction. The problem is that the area tends to be overshadowed by Point Fortin which in the past two years has been struggling with a serious unemployment problem.
If Mr. Richardson goes along with the notion that Cedros will benefit from any overspill of economic activity in the Point Fortin area he is going to be wrong once again.