THE State has been given five days to respond to a violation notice issued over the construction of a joint army-police post at the Eddie Hart Savannah, Tacarigua.So said chairman of the Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation, Josiah Austin, during a news conference at the site yesterday.Austin said the notice had been served on Friday to the contractor after the Corporation failed to get a meeting with the authorities involved in the construction of the post.He said the Corporation had also requested a meeting with UDeCOTT officials for 10 a.m. yesterday, but the request was declined. Another request was subsequently made for a meeting at a time convenient to the authorities, but no meeting had been held.“We are just asking for basic consultation,” Austin said.He said the Corporation had been advised to pursue legal action and was considering doing so. However, he was hopeful that it did not come to this.“As I have continued to say, we are all for this. There are other parts of the region where this is taking place, and we have not stopped it or said anything against it. There’s areas like Grand Bazaar and Acono that they’ve identified and you have not heard us say anything. It’s this area, this location, and the complications that come with it in terms of underground fixings and even the plans that we had for this area. So, it shows that we are all for it...But right here, which is vested under the Corporation, they are doing this with no level of consultation and no level of respect,” he said.Austin also raised concerns about work carried out over the weekend on underground gas lines at the site.He said he was informed by senior officials that workers had been at the location on Saturday morning identifying the lines before carrying out work which continued until about 6 p.m.He said the workers had excavated between six and eight feet and carried out work on the lines before covering the area.Austin said from his understanding, those workers had “blown out” the NGC lines to ensure there was no residual gas left in the pipes, and questioned why the Corporation had not been informed before the work was done.He said the work on the lines was also an example of the problems which could arise when State agencies were not consulted before development began.“My concern is really that no consultation has been done, not just with us but with the other State agencies,” he said.He said authorities appeared to have become reactive after the Corporation raised concerns, rather than consulting before work began.He said several other improvements had been planned for the site, including a pavilion and an expansion of the car park, as well as a police post at the southern section of the Savannah after consultations with stakeholders.Stating that the proposed location had been selected after consideration of the existing grass track, cricket nets, toilet and washroom facilities and other planned additions, Austin said the State would have been aware of this, had they reached out to the Corporation.Lack of properdialogue“Again. We want a police post. We were looking into building one on the southern area of the Savannah. So, we do welcome the concept. It’s just the location of this one the State is building comes with complications, and we need proper dialogue,” he said.Austin also raised wider concerns about the relationship between central government and the country’s 14 regional corporations.He accused the central government of weakening the authority of the corporations, stating that regional corporations had traditionally handled hiring for development projects and other work, but claimed the process was now being handled through the relevant minister and ministry.“On behalf of all 14 corporations, this is a stance against what they are doing,” he said.He said other regional corporations had also expressed a desire for consultation on similar projects.“Proper consultation would have resolved so many things that we are seeing opening up now...they just said we coming here, and they came here. Senior officers don’t know (what’s going on). We don’t know in the Corporation. NGC is now finding out. Other agencies are now finding out. And who knows what’s next? What they can find next? We have cesspit lines that run all over this area. We have WASA lines...it’s a lot. But at the end of the day they went ahead without asking. They are the bullies in this situation. So let’s see what happens,” he said.