Summit wives to visit Caroni Swamp

...San Fernando Hill also on the agenda
Published: April 9, 2009
Yvonne Webb | 9:16 pm
http://guardian.co.tt/news/general/2009/04/08/summit-wives-visit-caroni-swamp

Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Ashford Sankar confirmed yesterday that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent in preparatory work at the Caroni wetlands to welcome the spouses of the heads of government for the upcoming Summit of the Americas.

He said the San Fernando Hill and the Caroni Bird Sanctuary were likely to be places of interest visited by the spouses and families of heads of governments, including America’s First Lady Michelle Obama. Sankar said an interpretative centre has been installed to allow the visitors, to take in, in a closed environment, a presentation of the flora, fauna and the wetlands. “Caroni is an international wetland site and because of that we have certain standards,” he said.

“People feel, while passing on the highway and seeing two boats on the river, that is the Caroni Swamp. It is not. You have to drive about one mile to the visitors’ site, take in the presentation so when you go on the boat you can relate what you see in the physical what you saw in the presentation. “While the delegates participate in the actual summit, their spouses and relatives and other guests who came with them are likely to visit Caroni.” Sankar said the San Fernando Hill, where he attended a ceremony to unveil binoculars and a Web site yesterday, might also be included in the visit.

“For security reasons, we cannot say precisely what the plans are,” he said. Already on the agenda for the delegates spouses was the April 18 visit to the scenic Wildfowl Trust at Pointe-a-Pierre.
The visitors will arrive by bus, but return to the Hyatt Regency Hotel via the water taxis which are docked at King’s Wharf, San Fernando. Fisherman who ply their trade on the wharf said they would be displaced by the move, which restricted them from fishing within a one-mile radius from the water taxi terminal.