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Contact:
John Emmanuel
Tuesday, April 15, 2003 - The need for a reliable public transportation
system to encourage the use of mass transit by St. Lucians has once again been
underscored. As part of his contribution towards the budget debate in the House
of Assembly last week, Transport Minister, Honourable Felix Finisterre indicated
that such a reliable system would save the country millions of dollars in
foreign exchange while at the some time help in reducing pollution and
congestions on the streets.
He told parliamentarians, that the current poor, unreliable and un-scheduled
service being provided was simply unacceptable. “You want to get to the hospital
from Babonneau on a Sunday or on a public holiday and you simply cannot, because
there is no public bus plying this route at this time. It gets even worse. You
want to go to catch the cricket match at Beausejour coming from some far flung
place and there is simply no bus running.”
The Transport Minister lamented, “Someone wants to come to the House of Assembly
to be part of the 2003/04 Budget Debate and take in the action first hand, to
get back the Parliamentary Representative has to use his vehicle to get them
back to their community as there is no reliable public bus service. This
indicates that we must begin to move and think of ways and means to modernise
our bus service and this is critical for economic and social development,” said
Finisterre.
A number of steps to alleviate what he termed the chaos on the roads will be
adopted by the Ministry during the new financial year. One of the initiatives
includes the provision of alternative routes particularly in the north-western
section of the country, to ease on the traffic congestion during the morning and
evening commute. Another takes into account physical improvements for traffic
management, which Minister Finisterre stated would become evident throughout the
country but particularly noticeable throughout the city circuit.
Several private sector firms like Glace Motors and Cara Suites Hotel came in for
commendation, for partnering with government in helping to finance traffic
access routes critically linked to economic development.
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