Announcement · 5 October 2026
Government proposes 17 corporations
Anna Ramdass reported the Prime Minister’s confirmation that legislation was being drafted to increase Trinidad’s municipal corporations from 14 to 17, create Barataria, St Augustine and Couva boroughs, make Chaguanas a city and Sangre Grande a borough.
Reported proposal
Barataria, St Augustine and Couva
The announced package creates three boroughs, elevates Chaguanas to city status and Sangre Grande to borough status. The detailed report describes how those changes would be produced from the existing map.
Reported proposal
Seven existing corporations directly affected
The Express report describes changes involving Tunapuna/Piarco, Arima, San Juan/Laventille, Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo, Siparia, Point Fortin, Diego Martin and Port of Spain, as well as expansion of San Fernando.
EBC · 2023 election
1,091,935 electors in 141 districts
The official election report records 1,091,935 electors across 141 Trinidad electoral districts and provides district-by-district results for all 14 existing corporations.
EBC · Appendix I
The largest present corporations
The 2023 lists recorded 180,117 electors in Tunapuna/Piarco, 153,095 in Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo and 136,662 in San Juan/Laventille. The smallest was Point Fortin with 17,570.
EBC · 2023 election
A seven-seven political map
The 2023 results left the PNM and UNC controlling seven corporations each. The proposed restructuring therefore starts from an evenly divided corporation count, while council seats and electorate sizes vary substantially.
Acts · Chapters 25:04 and 25:50
Corporation boundaries and electoral districts are separate legal work
Municipal corporations are creatures of legislation. The EBC’s local-government statute separately governs its review and delimitation of electoral districts. Creating or altering corporations and then drawing their internal electoral districts are connected but distinct stages.
Cartographic method
Current geography first; proposed transfers as reported
The base map follows municipality-level boundary geometry cross-checked against the EBC’s Municipal Corporation Map. Proposed changes are shown as relationships between existing corporations, not as invented statutory lines.
CSO · 2011 census
Population and electorate answer different questions
The census report supplies official population geography. Population and electorate are different measures and are presented separately in this investigation.
Extracts are summarised from the document of record, which is linked above. Where a passage is disputed, this newsroom will publish the correction alongside the extract.