La Brea is a town in southwestern Trinidad , located northeast of Point Fortin and southwest of San Fernando . La Brea (Spanish for "the tar" or "the pitch") is best known as the site of the Pitch Lake , a natural asphalt lake.
17-568: [REDACTED] Look up sobo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Sobo may refer to: Places [ edit ] Sobo, La Brea, Trinidad and Tobago Mount Sobo , Japan SoBo or South Mumbai Other [ edit ] Sobo (deity) Sobo language (disambiguation) Alexandra Sobo (born 1987), Romanian volleyball player Sobo, an app for recording and distributing sound snippets, developed by Alan Braverman Topics referred to by
34-582: A few stores and an internet café . 10°15′N 61°37′W / 10.250°N 61.617°W / 10.250; -61.617 Point Fortin Point Fortin , officially the Republic Borough of Point Fortin , the smallest Borough in Trinidad and Tobago is located in southwestern Trinidad , about 32 km (20 mi) southwest of San Fernando , in the historic county of Saint Patrick. After
51-480: A health risk for workers of Lake Asphalt Company and tourists as well as the local villagers. Roads in the district have to be constantly repaired, which usually takes a long time. Road users are inconvenienced by the condition of the roads and commuters have to pay very high fares. The means of transportation are: maxi taxis , P-cars , taxis and buses. Residents who have their own transport claim that vehicles are very costly to maintain because of frequent repairs as
68-482: A result of the condition of the roads. After 7 pm transport becomes very difficult to obtain. In La Brea the main and largest industry is the Lake Asphalt Company. Small-scale farming and fishing are other sources of income. However, many residents work outside the community either in the neighboring towns of Point Fortin and San Fernando or even further. Proposals for the construction of a smelter plant in
85-457: Is approximately 52 km (20 sq mi) in size and has a population of about 18,000. There are two main seasons: the dry season from January to May and the rainy season from May to December. La Brea is famous for its natural wonder of the world, "The Pitch Lake", which is actually the largest of three in existence. It is located on an area of depression in the landscape; with some pools, reeds and grayish asphalt everywhere. The asphalt
102-589: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages La Brea, Trinidad and Tobago La Brea health district is situated in the mid-western peninsula. It is bounded by the Gulf of Paria on the west, Mondesir Road and part of National Mining on the north, by Fowl Play Bridge Aripero village on the south and by Union Village on the east. The villages included within these boundaries are: Union, Vessigny, Chinese Village, Aripero, Sobo, Rousillac village, Vance River and La Brea. It
119-455: Is so soft in some areas that an individual can slowly sink if he/she stands on the surface too long. In some places one can put a stick through the asphalt and remove liquid tar. During the rainy season, the pools collect water, which becomes sulfurous due to the gases that are being released through the asphalt layers. These pools of water become breeding places for Aedes aegypti (yellow fever mosquito) and other mosquitoes , thereby creating
136-631: The United British Oilfields of Trinidad then became Shell Trinidad Limited. In 1974 it was acquired by the Government and named TRINTOC or the Trinidad and Tobago Oil Company, today known as Petrotrin. The 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 and oil tanks in
153-547: The area have been the subject of protests due to the harmful effects such an industry may pose for residents. Like much of southwestern Trinidad, La Brea has declined since the end of the oil boom in the early 1980s. The closure of the Trintoc (now Petrotrin ) camp at Brighton was a major blow to the economy of the town. Attempts were made to lure heavy industry to the Labidco (La Brea Industrial Development Company) Industrial Estate in
170-491: The area. Point Fortin was booming and labour, particularly skilled labour for the new technology, was scarce and 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, and recreational and other facilities. As a result, Trinidadians who went to work in Point Fortin never took their families with them. However, this changed when
187-418: The company realised that in order to attract and retain workers, they needed to develop the area. This encouraged families to settle in the area, and coupled with a growth in the commercial sector, brought about such facilities as a post office, police station as well as other governmental agencies and banks. In the 1960s the town began to see a decline due to massive retrenchment. The Government tried to revive
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#1732869413479204-438: The discovery of petroleum in the area in 1906 the town grew into a major oil-producing centre. The town grew with the oil industry between the 1940s and 1980s, culminating in its elevation to borough status in 1980. After the end of the oil boom Point Fortin was hit hard by economic recession in the 1980s and the closure of its oil refinery . Construction of a Liquefied Natural Gas plant by Atlantic LNG in late 1990s boosted
221-771: The early 1990s, but the geological instability of the area made the area unsuitable. More recent attempts to attract medium and light industry have been more successful. In particular, the La Brea Industrial Estate, and its accompanying natural deep-water harbour at Brighton , were developed by NGC (National Gas Company)/NEC as an alternative industrial site to Point Lisas . At present, La Brea offers dock and deep draught harbour facilities, site and utilities for land-based industries, bioremediation and offshore logistical support. The main recreational and relaxation facilities are Vessigny beach resort, "Carat shed" beach, Station beach, Pitch Lake Brighton sports ground and
238-423: The economy. 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
255-496: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Sobo . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sobo&oldid=1099864953 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Disambiguation pages with surname-holder lists Hidden categories: Short description
272-677: The sports ground located in Sobo The only available health resources are Petrotrin Lake Asphalt Medical Centre, which is a private enterprise for health care of workers and their immediate family. The other health facility is the La Brea Health Centre, which serves the entire community. La Brea is the location of the court house, revenue division, post office , market, abattoir , food court, drug store (in Rousillac), along with
289-588: 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 moved into Point Fortin on an expedition for the exploration of oil and sank its first oil well on the La Fortunee Estates. That company turned out to be the only one that survived successfully, although there had been several similar expeditions by other oil companies. The company later changed its name to
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