A United States-based environmentalist says the Highway Reroute Movement (HRM) and the Government have inadvertently overlooked the archeological significance of the Oropouche lagoon where the Debe to Mon Desir segment of the Solomon Hochoy Highway to Point Fortin is passing.
Dennis Ramdahin, who says he is the founder and executive director of Vihara Foundation, which deals with poverty alleviation and climate control urged Government to intervene to save the site which, he said, dated back several 100 years. He visited the HRM’s leader Dr Wayne Kublalsingh at his tent pitched outside the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair, yesterday. Kublalsingh completed 15 days of his hunger strike yesterday in protest against the Debe to Mon Desir section.
A frail-looking Kublalsingh said he was feeling “fine so far.” “I feel good today but I do not know what will happen tomorrow,” he added. The group continued to demand that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar halt work and reassess the economic, environmental and social impact of that section of the highway. Ramdahin said the purpose of his visit was not only to lend support to the HRM but also to highlight new scientific revelations.
“With respect to UNESCO, my particular interests are concerned with the protection of the Banwari Trace and its surrounding area and lagoon as a UNESCO world heritage site,” Ramdahin said.
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According to Ramdahin, the skeleton found in 1967 in Banwari Trace was a significant scientific archeological find as it was carbon dated to almost 6,000 BC and was found to be in a specific burial position indicative of indigenous Amerindian. Studies of the original find was confined to a 30 by 30-metre archeological dig. This area seemed to have been interpreted as an isolated burial site.
However, the UNESCO world heritage centre has identified the general area of the lagoon and around the lagoon as the area where once an ancient civilisation existed. In 2004, the US World Monument Fund listed the site as one of the top 100 most endangered heritage sites in the world. Ramdahin said: “This civilisation is as important as the Aztec, Inca and Maya civilisation... that’s how I put it.”
“I know there was a change in government in 2010 and I know this project rolled over from the previous government... it must have been that in the mix of everything that things got lost and we probably overlooked the significant archeological and scientific importance of this region.” On the possible environmental impact on the highway Ramdahin said he would not comment as the matter was before the court.