The Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government continues to strengthen its efforts to serve communities nationwide.
Minister Khadijah Ameen provided further details on a new initiative in Trinidad and Tobago aimed at directly employing workers for the maintenance of public spaces.
“The Cabinet agreed that we will draw down on that money because this project creates employment. It adds to the capacity of the Regional Corporations to maintain public spaces, which may have been done by other entities before. Corporations have legal responsibility when it comes to public spaces and public facilities like recreation grounds and so on.”
The Minister said that, in preparation for the upcoming Carnival season, she has been working closely with the country’s Regional Corporations and other stakeholders. These efforts are aimed at keeping Carnival venues clean, as well as maintaining beaches and other popular sites frequented by those not participating in the festivities.
“I met with every single Corporation. We went through their plan. In fact, some of them, when they asked for certain resources, based on my knowledge of the type of activities they had, we increased the number of employees that they requested to accommodate, for instance, the camping that they didn’t take into consideration or other activities they were not aware of. So, I met with every single Corporation and we put those things in place and their workers have now been assigned to the Corporation for them to administrate and manage.”
The Minister said they were working to ensure that the programme continues to be results-driven, focusing on providing “decent wages” and ensuring tangible, measurable work.