ENVIRONMENTALIST Derek Hearn has applauded the High Court’s decision to stop the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) from continuing work on the controversial Shirvan-Store Bay Local Connector Road.
But he claims his business has been “destroyed” since the start of construction over two weeks ago.
“This has been very frustrating because I still have workers to pay because we have not been able to do any work,” Hearn, 62, told Sunday Newsday.
Hearn owns a 50-acre estate at Friendship Road, Canaan, comprising an organic farm, stable, apiary, an old wooden house, well and two mills, the larger of which is his home. He has lived on the property for about 35 years.
Hearn said the Shirvan-Store Bay Connector Road, which came like a thief in the night, was being constructed very close to his stable and pasture – a situation he believes could potentially harm his horses.
[caption id="attachment_1018344" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A section of the Shirvan Road-Store Bay Road running alongside Derick Hearn's stables. - David Reid[/caption]
Hearn, who suffered a mild stroke six months ago and walks with a wooden cane, claims he was never told about the project and, to date, has not received any documentation about it.
“Today (Saturday) is 13 days since they (project managers) came to me and had a talk. They talked at me and they still have not send me any papers to justify what they were doing.”
The THA, through the Division of Infrastructure, Quarries and Urban Development, launched the project on May 8 to address what it called “a present and urgent emergency hazard resulting from rising congestion in the sub-urban Shirvan and Crown Point zones.”
It said an alternative route was expected to bring easier access to the communities and support road safety, especially during peak seasons.
In a release on May 16, the division said in about 120 days the 2.5-kilometre Shirvan-Store Bay Local Road Connector will likely to be commissioned for use. The $65 million project was being undertaken by Charlieville-based company California Stucco Company Ltd.
But on Friday, High Court judge Justice Frank Seepersad granted an ex-parte injunction to the Environmental Management Authority (EMA), which complained in an emergency application that the requisite approvals have not been granted by them.
[caption id="attachment_1018345" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Derick Hearn protested for the road crew to stop, as they were about to plough straight through his museum and horse stables. - David Reid[/caption]
In the application, the EMA’s managing director Hayden Romano claimed the THA, either by itself or through the Division of Infrastructure, Quarries and Urban Development or its contractor, California Stucco Company Ltd, had not applied for a certificate of environmental clearance (CEC) and was in breach of the Environmental Management Act and the CEC 2001 order.
Seepersad granted the injunction, which will continue until May 31, when the matter comes up for hearing.
At a news conference on Friday, hosted by
