More Chinese coming to TTBy VENUS HONORE-GOPIE Wednesday, December 2 2009
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SANTA SURROUNDED: Excited children from the Princess Elizabeth Home surround Santa Claus during the Hilton Hotel's annual party for underprivileged ch...
VISAS for 21 Chinese nationals employed with Beijing Liujian Construction Corporation TT Limited (BLCC) have been approved by the Ministry of National Security and they are expected to be in the country by next week.
Sources revealed that the Education Facilities Company Limited (EFCL) assisted BLCC with obtaining the visas for the workers. Work permits have already been approved also from the ministry last month.
The EFCL contracted BLCC to complete construction work at the Aranjuez and Five Rivers Government Secondary Schools. Seventy Chinese nationals boycotted work at the construction sites on October 13, and some of them were arrested outside the Chinese Embassy in Port-of-Spain on that day.
They protested by walking from their camp at Ramsaran Trace, Bejucal Road, Cunupia to the Uriah Butler Highway after complaining of more than two months wages owed to them and the unsanitary conditions in which they live. Some 125 labourers had their work permits revoked and were sent back to China later that month.
About 34 of the remaining workers at the camp in Ramsaran Trace continue to work on the construction site of the two schools and will be joined by 100 of their countrymen who are expected in the country in January. These 100 workers are in addition to the 21 labourers coming in next week.
The schools are expected to be handed over to the Ministry of Education by September 2010 once all fixtures, furnishings, electrical and water connections are completed.
According to senior medical sources the toilet and kitchen facilities at the Chinese labourers’ Ramsaran Trace camp have been upgraded to required health standards.
Public Health Officers (PHOs) from the County Medical Officer Health (CMOH) Caroni asked officials from BLCC to close the kitchen on October 16, due to the unsanitary conditions. However, according to the medical sources cooking can now continue at the kitchen after it was outfitted with the required furnishings.
