Members of the lobby group, Project 40, said yesterday they were optimistic their meeting with President Anthony Carmona today would have a positive outcome. Carmona is expected to meet three of its members at President’s House, St Ann’s, at 11.30 am. Spokesman for the group Gerry Williams said he and his colleagues—Khalil Hassanali and Alyssa Rostant — who will attend the meeting, were prepared and “will be going along the line of mediation. That is what we hope to achieve out of it.”
The group, which was formed by mainly young people, supports the Highway Re-route Movement and its leader Dr Wayne Kublalsingh, calling for work on the Debe to Mon Desir segment of the extension of the Solomon Hochoy Highway to Point Fortin to stop. Chike Pilgrim, another member of the movement, said Carmona’s willingness to meet with them was a good sign. “We feel it is a positive move. It is also good that our leaders are willing to hear us out. We hope the other leaders will take an example from him (Carmona),” Pilgrim added.
Phil Carr and Robin Ramdeen completed Day 29 of the relay fast at Kublalsingh’s camp outside the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair, yesterday. Carr, who spent several years in London, and Ramdeen, a graphic artist, called for an end to corruption at all levels in government. Kublalsingh yesterday repeated his terms, saying once the Government agrees to an independent mediator, halts work on the project for a week, considers the alternative route submitted by the HRM and the recommendations of the Armstrong report, he will suspend his hunger strike, now in its 55th day.
On the court matter, he said, lawyers of the HRM have got conditional leave to appeal to the Privy Council for it to be heard as soon as possible. “The HRM is seeking a conservatory order to halt all works between Debe and Mon Desir pending the outcome of the substantive matter being heard before the High Court. “In the High Court, the constitutionality of the State's actions and decision to build the Debe to Mon Desir are being tested,” Kublalsingh said.
He said the next hearing was January 2015 and the matter was still at the stage of evidential objections so it was unlikely it would be concluded soon. “In the present circumstances, by the time the courts make a decision, the Debe to Mon Desir highway would have already been built. “That is why the HRM cannot rely solely on the courts. The matter has been before the courts since August 2012,” he explained.