Just weeks be­fore vot­ers head to the polls, a surge of road paving is un­der­way across Trinidad—turn­ing pot­hole-rid­dled streets in­to fresh strips of as­phalt al­most overnight.

Af­ter months and even years of ne­glect, and as mo­torists and pedes­tri­ans have grown frus­trat­ed with nav­i­gat­ing around pot­holes and de­pres­sions, roads are fi­nal­ly be­ing resur­faced. Mil­lions of dol­lars are be­ing spent.

The pun­gent scent of fresh as­phalt clung to the air on St Joseph Road in Ari­ma last week when the Sun­day Guardian vis­it­ed. For res­i­dents like Su­san De Touche, who wait­ed years for her street in the East­ern Bor­ough to be fixed, the tim­ing feels sus­pi­cious.