OROPOUCHE East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal has called for emergency works to be done on the new highway from San Fernando to Point Fortin.
He was speaking during the Opposition press conference on Sunday.
Dr Moonilal said he drove on the highway on Saturday.
He said, “This is not a highway from Port of Spain to Point Fortin, we conceived a highway from Port of Spain to Point Fortin. However, this is not what they have done. ”
It was commissioned on October 14, 2023 and called the Archibald-De Leon Highway – named after ex-footballers Warren Archibald and Leroy De Leon.
Moonilal said the highway was not a straight drive to Point Fortin. He said, “You would have to make several detours and then be able to make it back on the highway.”
He said there were four pieces of the highway missing, claiming that the government had changed the original design of the highway to Point Fortin.
Dr Moonilal is calling for better signage, security and safety devices and lights for the sharp turns and corners.
Before the commissioning of the highway, there were two fatalities. Dr Moonilal said, “This may be due to the lack of signage.”
He also called for an investigation into the Commission of Enquiry into the construction of the highway which has cost taxpayers almost $11 million but has not started yet.
Dr Moonilal said, “If we had done what was supposed to have been done by the clause in the contract that governed the conduct of this project, OAS could never have gone before any court anywhere in the world and seek to fight us, for this $950 million.”
