Tunapuna-Piarco Regional Corporation

last count, the region’s population was about 250,000, but we do have that large transient population. Now, because of COVID-19, the University isn’t operating as it once used to, but people coming to Trinidad to study medicine and law come to our region. Anybody in the country who wants to travel internationally has to come through Piarco. Basically, it’s possible to live here and never visit other municipalities. But it’s almost impossible to be in Trinidad and not visit the Tunapuna Corporation.” BVC: How do you attract investment and development? Robinson: “ There are various other agencies, such as InvestTT, that lead that charge as their core competence, so we help with coordination of that activity. We facilitate that through our annual quarterly meeting and meeting through my Minister. I do have a good relationship with the Tunapuna Business Chamber and, speaking from a business standpoint, if you’re doing business in my region, I try to solve some of the hygiene factors – the aesthetics of the community, the cleanliness of the streets. We have to do it with a reduced budget but I think that those things are important for us to focus on to drive the business activity in our region. “The main industries are manufacturing, distribution, agriculture, as well as construction. This region is one of the most sought-after for living, both for low-income housing that the government is building and the premium housing market and middle-income housing done by private contractors. So we have quite a mix of residential options. And then there is the service sector. Hospitality, restaurants, retail, but of course all those dynamics have changed because of COVID. We have large communities that were supported by the operation of the airport but that has been affected globally this year, so a lot of the people who provide support