Government has introduced the Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Bill, 2026 which proposes increasing the number of municipalities from 14 to 17.
Political scientist Dr. Maukesh Basdeo said the Bill is about more than increasing the number of municipalities, describing it as a move aimed at strengthening local governance and representation.
“When we look as to see where the Bill intends to create these additional municipalities is to create a degree of equity within these municipalities. But really, primarily its how we allocate resources to actually manage the date to day affairs because the local government system as a government machinery has the effect of actually affecting the lives more directly than let’s say central government.”
He noted that the Bill will also seek to elevate Chaguanas to city status while creating boroughs in St. Augustine and Couva.
“The last reconfiguration we can go back to was in 2023 local government election with the addition of the Diego Martin Regional Corporation which is somewhat new and the Siparia Regional Corporation. But other than that, this piece of legislation is very expansive because it not only deals with the creation of new municipalities but it also deals with what we callother issues that are part of the act itself.”
Dr. Basdeo indicated that these issues included the composition of municipalities, the adjustment in the number of electoral districts as well as the expansion of the grounds for declaring an office vacant.