Dart dump deal still not signed

| 24/02/2021 | 50 Comments
Premier Alden McLaughlin at the George Town Landfill (file photo)

(CNS): Government’s planned deal with Dart to take on the country’s waste-management issue has still not been signed. Decco, Dart’s general contractor, alongside a number of other local and international partners were selected as the preferred bidder three and a half years ago, but to date no agreement has been made or a contract signed to address what many people believe is Cayman’s biggest problem.

Speaking at a press briefing last week, Dwayne Seymour, the minister responsible for rubbish and one of a long line of ministers who have failed to solve this issue, said that he expected the main agreement would be signed in the coming weeks. However the minister has been saying that ever since Dart was selected in October 2017.

“Going out on a limb here, but within three weeks we should be doing the final signing. I hope they stay true to that,” Seymour said.

A side contract to begin the remediation work, the key issue that Dart has wanted address for more than ten years, has been signed. The desire by the corporation to cover up the rotting pile of garbage is unsurprising, given how close the dump is to the heart of its property empire.

But the issue of the wider waste-management problem is even more pressing now that Health City Cayman Islands has announced that it will be buying land to build a new cancer hospital right by the current landfill site.

Justin Howe, Decco’s Executive VP of Real Estate Development and Operations, said that the early remediation work was now underway and studies had been completed. The Dart executive said he shared the confidence and enthusiasm that Health City had to invest in the site.

Premier Alden McLaughlin said that all but one small area of the dump had now been covered with aggregate and the area has been sealed off with new fencing. “The plan has always been to essentially close the current landfill and to continue dumping while the rest of the project goes ahead, particularly the waste-to-energy facility, in the area where hurricane Ivan waste and debris was placed.”

He said the WTE project was expected to take two to three years to be up and running, and then the amount of rubbish going into the landfill will be reduced by some 90%. Explaining why the government had risked entering into a smaller deal before the main issues were address, the premier said it was to try to move the project forward even if the main deal was never agreed.

“We decided, government and the Dart Group, that because the bigger contract was so complex, the negotiations about it, that we would both go out on a limb and move ahead with the smaller, more easily quantifiable, in terms of money, bits of the project so that we wouldn’t go through another however many years with absolutely no progress being made,” McLaughlin said.

“God forbid that the contract doesn’t wind up being signed, then we will simply have to pay for the work that has already been done and move on and try to find some other entity willing to proceed with the project. But the project itself would not have been at a standstill for the last four years.”

The premier added that he was confident that before this administration leaves office for the election, the agreement will be signed.

The stumbling blocks in the negotiations have never been properly outlined but they have involved CUC, which will be expected to buy the energy that the waste plant generates.

While the decision to tackle Cayman’s rubbish problem by burning it was said to have been made without ever confirming that CUC would buy that power, it is understood that the monopoly power provider is now willing to do so, but the rate continues to present the main problem. In the end, both Dart and CUC are looking to make a profit on this public-private project, which in the end will come largely from the pockets of taxpayers.


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Comments (50)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Dart’s not dumb. The dump will cost more than CIG is willing to pay and besides everyone knows they really don’t have to do anything but play dumb and they’ll just skate into the next round of Government. Where they will be very busy looking like they are going to do something at last. Hey, it works.

    • Anonymous says:

      The Dump will cost more than CIG can afford to pay. WtE plant would bankrupt its coffers.

    • anon says:

      CNS Your second para says it all – “Dwayne Seymour the Minister responsible for rubbish”, he certainly contributes more than his fair share.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Governments should not be allowed to sign major contracts within three months of an election. Especially if the Minister’s mind is elsewhere like on roof repairs and road paving for his/her constituents.

  3. Anonymous says:

    The winners here are the law and accounting firms who have been hired to advise government on this. We are already 10+ million in the hole and have nothing to show for it. government might as well have thrown the money on the top Mt Trashmore.

    Can someone please remind me how much of our money they wasted on the port? Please do not forget the millions wasted on the propaganda campaign to shove the port project down our throats!

    VOTE THEM ALL OUT!!!!

  4. Anonymous says:

    Hope Dart has enough capping material left over to bury the old Hyatt dump that he owns and neglects.

    • Anonymous says:

      That could be gone tomorrow. You really don’t understand how the game works though, do you?

      • Anonymous says:

        Apparently, the only one who really knows how the “game” works is Dart. He is the man with the money!

      • Anonymous says:

        I really do, more than you think. But I cannot change the competence of those who sign the cheques and legal agreements.

  5. Non-sheep Caymanian says:

    Can we rename it “Mt. McAlden” as a gesture of our gratitude to the inept governments who have led us over the past 8 years?

  6. Power Crazy says:

    Decco bid this against a French WtE and waste management consortium whose price was competitive enough to give Mr Decco a real fright when bids were opened. The French were relegated to ‘alternative bidder’ status in the event that the Decco bid failed to come to terms. Translation- ‘spare’ just in case Dart could not morse-trade his bid price to below the now not-so-secret French consortium price or offer alternative non-bid specification sweeteners to secure the deal- in can only be speculated that losing control over the landfill ‘tip’ was too much for him to contemplate. 3 years and still no deal means that the manipulation of the Decco bid to suit their strategy must have been problematic- so much so that the question of why the ‘spare’ bidder was not approached or deployed by CIG, even as a negotiation threat tactic, is inexplicably unanswerable. The smell of corruption hands over this project, and only FOIs and full CIG explanations over why neither bidder nor they have come to terms, is inexcusable.

    • Anonymous says:

      The French company wasn’t considered because backdoor deals weren’t an option with them. This government is corrupt and rotten to the core!

      VOTE THEM ALL OUT!!!

  7. Anonymous says:

    It is not the cost to build WtE plant that one should be concerned with, but Operational cost. Cost Analysis of Operational cost must be the starting point.

    Taking into account that nearly all professionals and labor must have specific extensive training and experience, it will have to be brought from abroad.

    Even Bermuda managed to foresee that and sent locals interested in career in WtT field to the US to get education, training and experience- years before they built the plant.

  8. Anonymous says:

    Release the video

  9. Anonymous says:

    mount trashmore…the pefect monument to the incompetence of caymanian politicians.
    and further proof that caymanians have not got the ability to run the most basic aspects of their own affairs.

    • Anonymous says:

      Anonymous 25/2 @ 9:28am – Your grammar is proof of your own “ability” but I guess your mirror broke!

      Anyway, you’ve phrased your comment as if you’re not a Caymanian, so I’ll assume accordingly. Please stop generalizing!! Would you consider it fair and accurate if Caymanians consider ALL foreigners to be xenophobic leeches thriving off Cayman’s benefits?

      I know that’s NOT true, so it the same for Caymanians – not ALL of us are as you described and seem to believe!

      If you live amongst us, how can you stomach us? Why the f**k don’t you leave? No, because the Cayman golden goose is good for you. POS!

      • Anonymous says:

        ha…love it or leave it…typical caymanian response when they have lost the argument/….they used to say that in south africa.

      • Concerned says:

        I think what he was trying to point out is the govt are all Caymanian and no matter which way you cut it they have…
        A terrible record on education
        A terrible record on the dump
        An unability to sort rush hour
        Queues at EVERY govt facility despite huge labour to work ratio
        Appalling road safety
        An attempt to force a port through despite public opposition
        Failure to implement same sex relationships without being forced to
        An appalling disparity in living standards
        A speaker with the integrity of a gutter rat…

        Need I go on…

        • James Sage says:

          I say, Mister Concerned, you left out corruption and other types of theft that are found throughout our leadership, which is a MAJOR fault in our government, but please carry on!

      • Anonymous says:

        My grammar passed on a few years ago. She was a good lady. I miss her.

      • BeaumontZodecloun says:

        Curious to me that your spelling indicates nonCaymanian.

        How’s that goose doing for you?

  10. Dr. No says:

    Folks need to realise that the only little bit of leverage that CIG has over Uncle Ken is keeping the landfill next to him. The negotiations will necessarily drag on forever.

  11. Anonymous says:

    “Dwayne Seymour, the minister responsible for rubbish”
    No sarcasm there CNS 🙂

    • Anonymous says:

      I know Minister Seymour has some awkward moments and unforgettable COVID media briefing moments, but I do think he has a good heart and means well overall.

      He just, as has been witnessed by us all, has his interesting moments (for lack of a better phrase).

      Given his limitations, however, he may be the only Unity government member, who might get a pass on some of the tragedy that was caused this election term.

      Let me tell you “a story, bout Mary, bout Joseph”! Bless him.

      • Anonymous says:

        Bless him? He has been marginalizing anyone in his path at every opportunity. I say, F&@! Him.

      • Anonymous says:

        Nah, he’s just a simpleton.

      • SSM345 says:

        10:07; “I do think he has a good heart and means well overall.”

        That should not be a pre-requisite nor a reason for him to hold a position he clearly cannot fulfill.

        In the real world; you get fired. In Cayman; you either get to keep your job, promoted or get to recycled to another Dept to carry on.

        Therein lies one of our many problems.

      • Anonymous says:

        He’s a donkeh ready for retirement

      • SSM345 says:

        10:07; we should also be able to recall John-John’s campaign 8 or 12yrs ago? It specifically went along the lines of “No Dump in BT”.

        So this whole debacle can rest squarely at his feet (along with a few others).

  12. SSM345 says:

    What exactly have they done in the last 4, 8, 12 yrs?

    Ever?

    Other than put this Country backwards 30yrs?

    My bad, they sold alot of land and made the place look like South Beach.

  13. Anonymous says:

    No dump deal, no vote.

    • BeaumontZodecloun says:

      I wish the “no vote” meme held even an iota of menace for the government incumbents. Sadly, I think they would all be thrilled if we grew so numb that we didn’t show up to vote. That would leave only their influenced buddies to vote them back in.

      I understand that it means “we will vote for someone else if you don’t get this done”, but it’s still a hollow threat, especially in those districts where the incumbents run unopposed. I hope and pray to be pleasantly surprised when nomination day arrives.

  14. Status Quo says:

    Major developers with the authorization of our government will most likely tear away every inch of green in Cayman until the last thing that is left standing that isn’t made of concrete will be that dump extending over into the north sound.

  15. Anonymous says:

    The Cayman Islands do not have the ability to tackle something as difficult as trash collection and assimilation. The island will always be under the treat of toxic dump fires. The dump is now part of what makes Grand Cayman what it is and now will always be. Just like the closed up George town, incredibly undereducated local population and massive cultural misunderstandings. The island reached its peak ten years ago and is now in steady decline. When the total Covid bill comes due there will be big changes and they won’t be good for those who call Cayman home. Just saying what everyone knows to be true.

    • Anonymous says:

      Correct on all points. The local’s solution to the Dump-let it burn…”incredibly undereducated local population”

  16. Anonymous says:

    Useless bunch of Bobo the Clowns.

  17. Anonymous says:

    classic stuff from do-nothing-ppm and no-plan alden.
    what do you expect from the dwayne seymour…’the rubbish minister’?…don’t blame the fool…blame the people who put the fool in this position.

  18. Anonymous says:

    Dump deal not signed! Coast Guard Regs not written! Etc.!, etc.!

  19. Anonymous says:

    McLaughlin is an absolute bush-league goon. Get these guys far away from the deal-making tables. Time for new hardline negotiators that can put public interests first, like that’s their job.

  20. Anonymous says:

    History of Japanese Waste Management Technologies & Solutions
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cRGS7rUnfbw

    This is how it is done in Japan and must be done in Cayman. Could it be done in Cayman is another question. Certainly not with local expertise and labor. Pay attention to the mentioned Laws, Regulations and Acts. Cayman is stuck in the Stone Age when it comes to waste management, for it doesn’t even understand that laws must be enacted to regulate technologically complex waste management system.

    Dart, on the other hand understands the complexity of the undertaking and its cost. The cost will be astronomical in the long run. After watching the video you would understand what it would take to have efficient and effective 21 century WMS. An army of skilled and experienced professionals of all sorts won’t be easy to find, let alone its cost will bankrupt Cayman.

  21. Anonymous says:

    As always……. The rich get richer and the public get screwed.

  22. BeaumontZodecloun says:

    This is no way to run a business, or a government. Thoroughly inefficient and disappointing.

  23. Anonymous says:

    Doesn’t matter because the flies have disappeared. Thank you Mr. Dart, that’s enough for me.

  24. Anonymous says:

    Because it is now extremely complex and astronomically expensive project.

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