March 24, 2016:The following is the feature address delivered by the Minister of Public Utilities, Brig. General (ret) the Honourable Ancil Antoine on March 22 at the T&TEC Illumination Ceremony at the Boys Lane Basketball Court, LP 14 Boys Lane, D'Abadie:
SALUTATIONS
• His Worship, the Mayor of Arima, Alderman George Hadeed
• Councillor Lisa Morris- Julian, Deputy Mayor of Arima
• Mr. Keith Sirju, Chairman of T&TEC and other Commissioners of T&TEC (Mr. Glenford Cyrille, Dep. Chairman and Mr. John Chapman, Commissioner)
• Mr. Derek A La Guerre, Councillor for D’Abadie/Carapo
• Alderman Herman Noel
• Mr. Kelvin Ramsook, General Manager, T&TEC
• Mr. Nigel Bobb, Area Manager, T&TEC’s Distribution East
• Mr. Alvin Ramsaran, Manager, T&TEC’s Public Lighting Department (without him we would not have this)
• Executives, Management and Employees of T&TEC
• Residents of Boys Lane and environs
• Members of the media
• Distinguished ladies and gentlemen
Good evening and thank you to the residents and representatives of Boys Lane and environs for coming out as we celebrate the commissioning of the new lights at the Boys Lane basketball court. We hope this will be the beginning of a new and vibrant era in this community.
The court that we are about to illuminate this evening has been in existence for about a quarter of a century. It was built by my good friend, Mr. Roodal Lalman, who was a Councillor at the time.
Mr. Lalman, I would like to thank you for your exemplary service to the community.
This court and the many ways in which it has served Boys Lane over the past 25 years it is your commitment to enhancing the lives of residents. My Communications Manager, Vicky, was impressed by Mr. Lalman she says “everybody seems to know him.” Well, everybody knows Mr. Lalman having been a councillor at the Tunapuna/ Piarco Regional Corporation for a number of years. I just want to thank my Mr. and Mrs. Tinto, Ms. Marcia Smith, Mr. David Taitt (I saw him around earlier) Mr. Delano, who spoke earlier, Mr. Clint Pamphille who was instrumental during my walkabout early this year and bringing this commissioning to pass. I say that as Minister of Public Utilities and Member of Parliament for D’Abadie/O’Meara I am happy to be part of the development of this facility and pleased that you are here to witness a new phase in its ongoing history.
Indeed, I am fully aware that what we are doing here this afternoon is building on a foundation that was laid before. But even as we celebrate this milestone, I would like to encourage the Regional Corporation through Councillor La Guerre to continue to find ways of building community spirit and encouraging cohesion among the residents of D’Abadie/ O’Meara.
The illumination of this court is a good start, but much more is required (as Mr. Delano La Croix was saying) – from the representatives of this community and from you, the residents. After all, lights can do nothing for a community unless they are put to good use. I encourage you to come out in the evening and practice your basketball skills, start community tournaments and training camps, bring your sons and daughters out to support the neighbourhood team. One of the things the young men said to me while on my walkabout is that this court produced a number of National players but they could not practice because there were no lights. They had to cut off when the sun went down. Now, they have all the time to practice in the night so that they can produce even better National players in terms of basketball. I hope to see something start with the netball; I know the ladies disappeared over the years, but this is the netball court here we will do whatever to improve it and look forward to starting up some netball teams and practice in the future.
All of this will serve to strengthen relationships, not just among family members but between neighbours, households and residents of Boys Lane and the communities that surround it.
But there are other ways in which these lights can improve your quality of life here in Boys Lane.
Now that this court will be lit until late into the evening, you can come here to exercise, whether it be in an aerobics class or a basketball match. You will no longer be constrained to use this facility only during the day-time. In fact, you will be able to use it long after the sun goes down, thus maximising the health and wellness benefits that can be derived from its use.
But a caution to the residents, in some communities where we have put lights, residents tend to interfere with the panel box. Either they interfere with it so the lights can stay on whole night because they think the lights bring security. But if you interfere with the panel box, which is the case of your adjacent community in Galaxy Gardens, the lights are not going on at all. They thought they could keep the lights on all the time but they interfere with it and now the lights not going on. Now T&TEC has to spend money to fix it.
And so, the illumination of this basketball court is, in many ways, an investment into your lives at the level of the individual, the family and the collective. That investment was made by my Ministry, the Ministry of Public Utilities through the Public Sector Investment Programme.
It was implemented by the highly-skilled and hard-working men and women at T&TEC. I would to give a hand to the people of T&TEC. I would also like to commend the staff of the Ministry of Public Utilities (MPU) who would have secured the funding for this project, and the T&TEC team for lending their expertise and know-how to its completion.
I am thankful that the Mayor of Arima has brought up the situation with the Velodrome. We have had discussions with the Minister of Sport and other national players to get the oldest cycling track in the Nation lit continuously and we are currently looking into it. We (T&TEC and the MPU) are the right audience to address these issues.
This is the third such illumination ceremony that I have attended for the year, and I am sure that there will be many more as we seek to illuminate recreation grounds and facilities across the country.
As a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, I am also affected by the quality of the services for which I provide oversight. And as your elected representative, I have been given the honour of ensuring that your collective needs are represented and addressed as our country moves forward.
And so, I would like to assure you that as your Member of Parliament and as a Minister, I will continue to do my best to ensure a brighter and better future for you, my constituents, and for all of Trinidad and Tobago.
I would like to make a plug to the residents of D’Abadie, on the 30th April and 1st May 2016, we will be having two days of sports at the Larry Gomes stadium. I hopefully, T&TEC, seeing that I have the chairman Mr. Ramsook here, will be able to assist us with funding for the sports. You cannot go wrong with making a plug. D’Abadie needs to provide a team, I know that they have a basketball team, but you need to provide a March pass team. We will also have an aerobic burn out on the Sunday afternoon. So all those fit ones who want to come and test your fitness, it will be run by the Defence Force PTIs so it will be a tough burnout. So you all are invited to participate in the two days of activities on the 30th April and the 1st May. We are looking to identify the young men and women with talent, sporting talent, in our communities and that way we can develop their potential for the future.
As your Member of Parliament we are in this journey together and together we are laying the foundation for future generations and building a country of which our children are proud to call home. Normally this programme will run a bit longer, but I am doubled up; I am Minister of Public Utilities and the Member of Parliament so I have a little leeway in how we are going.
Thank you so much for coming and looking forward to us continuing develop the community in the future.
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Corporate Communications Unit
Ministry of Public Utilities
868-628-9500 ext. 1419