Borough Corporation

History

History

• The Development of Point Fortin
• On the Road to Borough Status
• Pan on the Move!

At the beginning of the 20th Century (before the discovery of oil) Point Fortin was an agricultural community with three distinct and separately owned cocoa and coconut estates. These estates were sparsely populated. Employment was provided for a small number of workers who depended on the estates for their living accommodation as well as their food and other supplies. Travel in and out of Point Fortin was by coastal steamers as there was no road into or out of the area. The inhabited area was located along the seacoast.

In 1907, the Trinidad Oilfields Limited moved into Point Fortin on an expedition for the exploration of oil and sank its first oil well on the La Fortune Estates. That Company turned out to be the only one that survived successfully, although there had been similar expeditions by several other oil companies. The Company later changed its name to the United British Oilfields of Trinidad, then became Shell Trinidad Limited and is now know as Trinidad and Tobago Oil Company (TRINTOC) Limited, after its acquisition by the government of Trinidad and Tobago in 1974.

This change from an agricultural to an oil based economy made a significant impact in Point Fortin. There was rapid development in the construction of dwelling houses, plant, pipelines, oil tanks and derricks in the area. Point Fortin was booming and labour, particularly skilled labour needed for the new technology, was scarce and this posed a major problem. Trinidadians did not seem to be attracted to the area. Although people migrated from all over the country, the population in 1931 was less than 500. There were very few houses, no schools, recreational and other facilities. AS a result Trinidadians who went to work in Point Fortin never took their families with them.

Thus, in order to deal with the problem of attracting and retaining staff the company provided housing accommodation and other facilities not only for its expatriate workers, but for the other categories of local staff. This encouraged families to settle in the area and was accompanied by the growth of a commercial sector. Such expansion brought about certain facilities and services to the community like a Post Office, a Police Station and other governmental agencies as well as Banks.

In 1954, Trinidad Northern Areas (now Trinmar Limited) a consortium of Texaco Trinidad Limited (now Trintoc, Point-a-Pierre), Shell Trinidad Limited (now Trintoc, Point Fortin) and British Petroleum Limited (later Trinidad Tesoro Limited and now Trinidad and Tobago Petroleum Company Limited) began offshore crude oil production in Point Fortin. That consortium was at the time, the largest single oil producer in Trinidad and Tobago.

When Trinidad and Tobago became an independent nation in 1962, Shell Trinidad Limited had already begun to hand over responsibility to the Government for the provision of a number of utilities, including water, sanitation and electricity (the Company had its own power plant). This was followed by the handover of roads, the Trade School, the Hospital, the housing estate for hourly (weekly paid) workers and its attendant facilities. This was proceeded by the Company's modernisation of its refinery and a cut back in its drilling operations. As a result there was massive retrenchment which continued into the late 1960's. People began to leave Point Fortin and it was evident that the area was in decline.

The Trinidad and Tobago Government made several attempts to revive economic activity in the area and eventually succeeded in having the Dunlop Tyre factory established there. However, the economic revival of the area was only achieved in the early 1970's as a result of the oil boom and the takeover by the government, of Shell Trinidad Limited. Point Fortin became more prominent in the eyes of the nation.

Following the takeover there was considerable political focus on the area. There were several tours to the area by government ministers and several other government officials. On one of his visits Prime Minister Williams indicated that Point Fortin will become the petroleum "metropolis" of the Caribbean, and should be elevated to Borough status. The oil boom resulted in an injection of expansion programmes for the Trinidad and Tobago Oil Company, and brought hope not only for the economic recovery of the area, but also for its political development.

A significant consideration for the creation of the Borough of Point Fortin seemed to be the need to keep pace with the advanced development of the growing township of Point Fortin. The rapid changes which took place as a result of the activities of the then Shell Trinidad Limited in the area; the windfall of petroleum revenue and the government's acquisition of that Company in the seventies all seemed to have precipitated that decision. Those rapid changes and development brought with them an awareness of a new economic, social cultural, psychological and political environment. The citizens sought to improve their quality of life and transform the society by managing their own affairs at the local level. They claimed that they had outgrown the status of a rural county district and had capable citizens among them to chart their future course.

Prior to the inauguration of the Borough of Point Fortin on April 30th 1980, Point Fortin was one of eleven (11) districts that made up the St. Patrick County Council.

The district of Point Fortin was being serviced by one representative/councillor under the St. Patrick County Council. The decision making centre of the St. Patrick County Council was situated in Siparia some twenty-two (22) miles from Point Fortin. There was the concurrent problem of communication through a non-existent direct public transport system, a limited and unreliable telephone system, and so the centre was never seen to serve its purpose in the minds of the residents of the Point Fortin district. Thus, the community did not seem to appreciate local government particularly because of the serious areas of neglect in the district and the lack of positive response to their grievances. These areas of neglect revolved around infrastructural development and maintenance and the improvement of environmental sanitation conditions. It was felt that bringing the centre of decision making to Point Fortin would bring about a profound psychological effect on the residents there, and would assist in attracting their attention to participate in the conduct of their own affairs and to initiate greater response from those who would provide the essential public services.

This was anticipated because the affairs of Point Fortin were to be managed by the elected Representative of Point Fortin for the people (of Point Fortin). As mentioned before, the Town had undergone rapid growth mainly because of the developmental activities of Shell Trinidad Limited. No significant developmental activities had been undertaken by the St. Patrick County Council in Point Fortin either during or after the period of Shell Trinidad Limited, in the area. It had been suggested that the St. Patrick County Council was not disposed to the development of Point Fortin. The people of Point Fortin enthusiastically sought and obtained the decentralization of their area from the St. Patrick County Council so that they could manage their own affairs.

In 1989, the Mayor of Point Fortin, Alderman Lawrence Achong appointed a committee of burgesses to plan and implement a project involving a steelband extravaganza, as part of our 9th anniversary celebrations.

That event has developed into what is today, Pan On The Move, an annual steelband "road" festival, second only to Trinidad Carnival.

From inception, Pan On The Move has been staged in close collaboration with Pan Trinbago and is now on the national steelband calendar.

Its objectives of this steelband extravaganza are:-

1. To generate economic activity in the Borough of Point Fortin.
   
2. To expose southerners to the music of top steelbands from other parts of the country.
   
3. To present yet another platform for this important aspect of our nation's culture.
   
4. To focus attention of the nation on the Borough of Point Fortin.

The special feature of Pan On The Move, is that participating bands are required to play two selections, one from the current year, and one from ten (10) years earlier along with a non-calypso tune in calypso tempo.

Pan On The Move has indeed achieved the objective of focussing on this southernmost Borough.