THE new traffic plan being tested in St James and environs will stay for the intended three-months, Port of Spain Mayor Louis Lee Sing reiterated yesterday.

Flooded in the past two weeks with calls to revert to the old system, Lee Sing said he would continue to welcome suggestions for improvement but "citizens are not planners".

Citizens and former works minister, Colm Imbert, were also thanked for their contributions.

The mayor was speaking at yesterday's statutory meeting of the Port of Spain Corporation, at City Hall.

Lee Sing said all stakeholders — including businesses and taxi drivers — were consulted prior to the implementation of the plan on July 16.

Claims by some businesses that the plan has turned St James into a ghost town, by diverting pedestrian flow, would be looked into, Lee Sing said.

Addressing claims by some that they had not been consulted and made aware of the details of the plan, Lee Sing said he had personally chaired two town meetings in St James and two in Woodbrook.

There were presentations by Adandai Piggott of the Ministry of Works and a question and answer session at each of the public consultations, he said.

"I am also advised there were other such meetings convened by representatives from the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure. Consultations were also held with other stakeholders, for example the Taxi Drivers Association," Lee Sing in a prepared statement.

"Throughout the planning period observations and measurements were conducted to arrive at conclusions.

"It would appear now that the plan is implemented, citizens are making their observations and contributions and rightfully so. After all, citizens are not planners."

Lee Sing said, however, that "worthy suggestions" are coming every day from a valuable source — those who use the streets.

He said the city was "grateful" for the suggestions and invited more comment.

"In all of this I see good people at work doing what is their civic responsibility to make Trinidad and Tobago a better place," Lee Sing said.