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Use Caroni lands as reparations for Slavery & Inde

Use Caroni lands as reparations for slavery & indenture

Q & A

with BC Pires

Sunday, July 24th 2005

If John F Kennedy was correct that there is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come, former national planning council chair Asad Mohammed may be kicking off the nation's most powerful debate with his suggestion that Caroni lands be used to achieve social justice.

Asad Mohammed...Caroni represents sugar and sugar is symbolic of both slavery and indenture in the society.

Q: What is the "best and highest" use of land?

A: The highest and the best use of land is a compromise between a set of variables. Sometimes the best use could be two complete opposite types of uses. In Caroni, you have some of the best lands for agriculture and also built development. These are not agronmic or natural science issues [but] policy decisions about how you weigh and balance the direction you want to take. Caroni lands are the best in the country for most uses. It's centrally located, around most of the built development, it's flat, accessible, has the highest percentage, about 30 per cent, of the arable lands in the country.So we could do virtually anything with this land and it would still be sensible?

Yes! So the highest and best use for Caroni could never be purely a technical exercise. It has to be rooted in national dialogue for reasons [including] the importance of Caroni lands in our psyche and history.

Full Article at the Trinidad Express

Trinidad and Tobago News

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