There has been international agreement that we should strive for a world with less poverty, hunger and disease, greater survival prospects for mothers and their infants, better educated children, equal opportunities for women, and a healthier environment. These targets underpin the eight Millennium Development Goals, with specific milestones dates set, to act as benchmarks for progress. Achieving these goals will involve those who direct economic policy as much as those who are responsible for constructing the resources, infrastructure and facilities that will be essential. The interplay of economics and engineering will determine success or failure. It is this interplay that will be highlighted by Prof Lewis, as it has been the subject of his research for more than three decades now. Trinidad & Tobago provides an unusual case study in development and the interactions between economics and construction in that process.
