A Tale Of Two Nations: Infrastructure in Trinidad and Tobago

Imagine two nations.

One nation is agricultural, the other suburban.

The agricultural nation has little in the way of plans. The laws of the country tie the hands of landowners in dealing with intrusions into their property and further have their hands tied by a rent control board that bases rent on the income of the renter instead of the cost of proper development of an area. People build houses without permission. Roads are run to suit the houses, however poorly planned they are. Because of this, amenities such as running water, electricity and telephone coverage are poorly done. Roads aren't well maintained, probably because they were built as extraneous and maintained as such - roads reserves moved because of houses, etc. In 1/6th of a lifetime, a landowner can lose his or her own property because people simply decide not to pay rent.

The suburban nation has better planning. Roads, water, electricity, telephone and even cable television are planned for. Houses are funded by the government, and people who qualify can get homes and make payments to the government until the house and land are paid off. On the surface, this is good - but cheap contractors and in some cases poor planning cause houses to be poorly done, even collapsing during heavy rains. Drainage that was possibly planned properly was poorly/cheaply implemented and in time, drainage fails. Police make regular patrols through the neighborhood.

Property values are higher than in the agricultural nation simply because the basic amenities are there. While water may flow through pipes every 12 hours in the agricultural nation, the suburban nation has water flowing all the time. When it comes to getting broadband internet access, the suburban nation offers more because there was planning involved - in the agricultural nation, where nothing is planned even by the owners of the land due to the laws of the land, dial up might be available. Police? The police station is around the corner, past the 4th mango tree on the left.

You've probably got a clear idea of which nation you feel an affinity with after reading all of this. If you live in a suburban area, the suburban nation might be appealing even with the negative aspects. If you live in an agricultural area, you might find the anarchy of the agricultural nation appealing as well.

Here's the thing. I just described Trinidad and Tobago's two separate nations of development. But it gets a little more complicated because both of these nations exist on two islands in the Caribbean, a geopolitical area that was once a colony, a geopolitical area that has been historically split by politicians and rivalry of two major cultures. But we won't get into that. That becomes a monkey dung-flinging party, and at the end of such parties everyone is covered in monkey-dung and no progress has been made.

When the government takes former agricultural land and puts housing on it, it takes from the agricultural nation and feeds the suburban nation. The suburban areas that are being developed in Trinidad and Tobago by the government are reminiscent of old suburban areas in the United States and other developed nations; the housing may not be great but the areas do have the basic amenities - and planning is required for that. Having friends who live in these areas, I have been surprised to find that they have regular police patrols, running water all day, almost no problems with electricity and have internet access.

Dealing with land in an agricultural area is a bit different, though - and is something that I deal with on an almost daily basis. There is a deep agricultural culture in some areas, where people simply make up the rules as they go along and where they believe that occupying land makes it their land by right - something that Law supports to some extent.

There is no need to wonder which of the two nations will become dominant. However, the path toward that domination is a developing story, a work of a nation of multiple personality disorder. And I'm somewhere between the two nations, trying to figure out which way the tide will take me...