Waste solution still more than 4 years away

| 20/09/2016 | 27 Comments

(CNS): Even if the Cayman Islands Government begins the procurement process to find a specialist partner that can deliver its garbage policy, it will be at least four years before a waste-to-energy facility and the full reuse and recycle system would be in place. Although government published a draft outline business case on Monday, there are still many unanswered questions about how the project will be financed, what community waste collections will look like, how much recyclable or reusable waste the community will have to drop-off themselves and where government will create a new lined landfill.

The OBC points out that doing nothing is not an option because the current arrangements are clearly unsustainable and an environmental threat. In a complex 300-page document, the consultants involved have concluded that the best option would be a private sector partnership with government in which all or most of the project is packaged together in what would be a whopping half billion dollar 25-year contract.

Pointing to a public-private partnership, or PPP, as offering better value for money than keeping the entire project in public hands, there are still many issues to consider in the plan to roll out a successful modern waste-management strategy with an exceptionally ambitious goal of reducing waste going into a landfill by 95%.

Exactly how people will be educated to reduce the amount of waste they produce, how they are expected to separate and present waste for collection is not specified.

The OBC states that government also plans to promote practical reuse measures for bulk waste, such as furniture and paint. Promoting recycling is another major component of the future plan but the OBC states that it may not be as a kerbside collection until almost ten years after the integrated waste-management strategy is implemented.

The OBC also records the significant funding gap between what government can raise from tipping and collection fees as well as selling the power to CUC from the waste-to-energy facility and the full cost of the project, representing a several million-dollar annual shortfall, which the consultants conclude would need to be addressed before the procurement process for the project could begin.

KMPG, who were the financial consultants on the project alongside Amec Foster Wheeler, the technical experts, said that the currently identified revenue streams were not enough to cover the cost of the project and this growing funding gap over the 25-year life of the project would have to be met from the public purse or alternative revenue streams created from the trash.

The consultants said government was in the process of discussing this issue as the draft OBC was being finalised, but that the RFP could not happen until a solution was found because any private partner would “expect reasonable clarity on such a significant issue” before they bid.

See the full OBC in the CNS Library

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Category: Local News, Politics

Comments (27)

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  1. anonymous says:

    Ever wondered why there are so many doctors on this tiny island of 60,000? It is a very lucrative business. A new pharmacy is being built.
    They will diagnose you all right, but don’t expect them to cure you from cancer or whatever. Unless in doctors you trust!
    A human body was designed to take many assaults, but there is always a breaking point.

  2. Michael says:

    great so we are going to dump millions of dollars into failing airlines and archaic turtle whatever its called now and we choose to do nothing with what is one of the biggest problems we have….other than overweight overpaid politicians

  3. Anonymous says:

    Boy, Mr. Leggins at the Compress will have a ball with this info.

    • anonymous says:

      Yeah, the Compass will compress them.
      On the other hand this subject has been beaten to death. There is really nothing the media can do anymore.
      People of the Cayman Islands have chosen to just live with the Dump, regardless of the consequences. They have practiced an interrupted breathing for long enough to manage driving by the Dump without taking a single breath. That solves the stench issue. Cancer creaps slowly and always happens to somebody else.
      There are more “important” issues that get plenty attention – gay marriages, Zika(sham) scare and employment of unemployable few.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Same old story. “Government can’t do it because we have no money.” Yet it is the same government that gives concession in the multi millions to the same developers they will have to now rely on to solve the problem.

    Thank god elections are coming. Maybe, just maybe, we can elect people who will not give away our country. I hope it is not too late.

  5. Anonymous says:

    I cannot believe that every Tom, Dick and Harry gardening outfit is allowed to dump garbage waste at the dump. They should all be required/forced to compost. Ridiculous in this day and age

  6. Anonymous says:

    By now half the dump must consist of discarded consultants reports about getting rid of the dump.

  7. Benny Zitto says:

    A government run and led by friendly and family connected consultants and reports of course Da PPM’s nepotism knows no bounds either????

  8. Anonymous says:

    PPM threw away the only sensible solution we had to get themselves elected. They can dangle the carrot of “waste to energy” but previous studies have already indicated its not a viable option. As much as I wanted UDP to lose, part of me wishes they would have won as they would not have refused Darts 60 million dollar gift. It’s the only sensible solution that doesn’t bankrupt the country.

    • Anonymous says:

      I can’t understand why persons post negative comments without reading the article or in this case the OBC.

      But I guess you have been trained to be negative no matter what. What a pity.

      Can anyone give me the OBC that Dart produced for this project or the tender documents ?

      I guess our negative posters don’t believe in a Government that plays by the rules. But we understand that you are used to that type of politics in your countries. That’s why you fled to Cayman.

      • Nexus says:

        Do your own homework @ 6:40am

        There is a lot of information out there readily available for the public, people just rather come on here and complain without doing their research.

        We were ignorant to turn down 60M for our CRAP!

        Simple.

    • Veritas says:

      12.40am you have hit the garbage nail on the head, I voted for the PPM as integrity was I thought, itegral to their agenda. Sadly with the dump decision that went out of the window.

  9. Anonymous says:

    At least these guys are actually doing something about it. Other previous governments just wanted to give half the island away to DART but still not getting anything in return.

    It might take time but at least they have the ball rolling

  10. Anonymous says:

    More evidence of failure by the ppm. The only option is what they fought against

  11. SMH says:

    PPM version of progress. SMH

  12. Anonymous says:

    Finally we are seeing this critical project being done in a sensible manner.

    Don’t focus on the 4 years focus on the fact that we are doing this right.

    • Diogenes says:

      Doing what right, exactly? What are they doing – haven’t seen anything actually DONE other than commission reports about what might be done, possibly, sometime…

  13. Anonymous says:

    as i predicted when ppm took office………..

  14. Mr. T says:

    I pity the fool that thinks these people have a solution.

  15. Anonymous says:

    Should have put the darn thing in the center of the island (Bodden Town area) where Govt was given the opportunity to put it for almost nothing.

    Crooked politicians now wasting money on consultants for Mount Trashmore !!

    • Freddy says:

      IT IS really ridiculous that the public has been listening to the same stupid rhetoric for the past 12 years concerning the dump, YES it should be put where it was designated Bodden Town. All the water that is in the dump will be flowing onto the new 2 lanes presently being constructed as it has already started to occur. I wont be driving on those lanes thats for sure .

  16. Anonymous says:

    I give up on our elected incompetents. I’m not voting in the next election, and new appliances or a freshly paved drive way will not change my mind either!

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