ReGen dump project still poses multiple challenges
(CNS): Premier Wayne Panton has said negotiations surrounding the ReGen waste management project have presented serious difficulties, not least of which has been the challenge of securing value for money. Over the 25-year lifetime of the proposed project, it is expected to cost the public purse at least $1.5 billion, but Cayman will still need to cut the amount of rubbish it generates for it to be sustainable.
Panton explained that since coming to office and finding the deal signed by the Progressive-led administration with the Dart consortium just weeks before the election, there had been many unresolved issues. Some are presenting serious challenges, including ones that will impact the lifespan of the various elements of the project and its future sustainability.
Panton does not believe the final cost for building and operating the facility over the next 25 years will be as much as $2 billion, though he admits it will be in excess of $1.5 billion. He said that the report by the Office of the Auditor General on this project would be made public.
The OAG’s work has been credited with helping the government with the negotiations over the deal the previous administration signed, especially with the “baked-in problems”, as they have often been described.
“Government inherited an agreement to make 30 more agreements,” Panton told CNS this week, as he explained why it has been so difficult to reach a deal that will not bankrupt the country. After the general elections, PACT set about better understanding the project, he said. “Our main concern was not with the solution itself but ensuring value for money… and that it meets our needs now and into the future.”
The government has since discovered that multiple issues had not been addressed, including where the Department of Environmental Health, which will still be collecting rubbish, will operate from. The deal had included a clause that would have seen this critical department booted off the premises once the landfill and related land area were handed over to Dart.
Rather than a project where the negotiations were essentially completed and ready for construction to start, the agreement PACT found was a deal to make a deal, even after the PPM had spent more than two years in talks to get to that point.
“There is still a great deal of work to be completed in order to finalise contract negotiations and reach financial close,” Panton said some five and a half years after Dart and its partners were selected as the winning bidders.
In 2020 the PPM government also gave Dart the go-ahead to begin remediating the dump mound, known as Mount Trashmore. That green light was not only too soon, but it has created additional problems in the short term as the space left for land-filling now is inadequate, Panton said.
Managing the landfill, especially over the next three years while the waste-to-energy facility is constructed, will need to include a campaign to help people reduce their waste. The premier said this would require a much greater effort on the part of the government and the public to cut the rubbish we produce by reducing what we buy, reusing and repurposing what we have and recycling more.
“Even if ReGen were to be commissioned and become operational tomorrow, there is still a huge role for the public to play in terms of both waste reduction and litter reduction,” he said.
Estimates about how much space would be required while the waste-to-energy plant was under construction may have been inaccurate in the first place, the premier suggested. But now, with a growing population producing more waste, there may not be enough space to last until the WTE plant opens in early 2026.
It is likely that dumping over the next three years will eventually encroach into the area set aside for the lined residual landfill where the ash from WTE will go. This will have a knock-on impact on the sustainability of that part of the project.
“ReGen will not have unlimited capacity,” he said. “Like all landfills, this will have a finite capacity, currently planned for the life of the project contract, approximately 25 years. To ensure the longevity of this infrastructure, we all need to collectively take steps to reduce the amount of waste we produce as individuals, families and businesses.
“Reducing the waste we generate in the first instance, followed by reusing and recycling, are some of the most important tools we have to manage waste more sustainably now and going forward,” the premier added.
The single-use plastic ban, which will include styrofoam containers, is set to be rolled out in a matter of weeks, and plans for the government to partner with the private sector on glass recycling are underway, as well as proposals to promote reducing waste in the first place and reusing stuff so it doesn’t become waste.
“We have to facilitate a paradigm shift in these islands that takes us back to the mindset previous generations embodied without necessarily realising it,” Panton said. “For our predecessors, everything that could be reused was reused. Material possessions were few and far between and they were not taken for granted. Throwing something away was a last resort because, as they knew, there is no ‘away’.”
Panton said that as the government continues negotiations with Dart, finalising once and for all the contract to build these new facilities, the public must be part of the solution by embracing personal practices that minimise the waste generated.
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Category: Environmental Health, Health
#Overconsumption DRIVES all Environmental Problems.
And a key driver of overconsumption is population growth (and size). That’s why, when it comes to ecological sustainability, population matters.
Agree / disagree? 🤔
🟢Protect our environment
🟠Halt overexpansion
🔴Stop duplicity
The waste to energy part is the holdup. It’s too complicated for Cayman where building a concrete high school takes 15 years and where no government project has ever functioned properly—gasboy, airport parking, cctv crime cameras, weather radar, public beach, prison, road issues, etc. Cayman might be able to run and afford a simple incinerator. All the rest is wishful thinking, and it really doesn’t matter how much CO2 you produce or whether you produce a little, very expensive electricity on the side. It’s just a vanity project with a slice of corruption.
Yours is a very apt and sad overview of our situation.
So says the same Ministry of Sustainability which just did a mail drop in to every PO Box on Grand Cayman of a four page double sided full color glossy leaflet 🤦🏽♂️
I put mine back in the international mail slot, as I do with all junk mail.
When DART handles a project, it gets done right and to the best quality.
However, when DART handles a project and then hands it over to Government for continuance – we get situations like DART park (built and financed by DART, maintained by Government – which explains the rotting club house and filthy public bathrooms).
Another one is the road area from GT to Camana Bay – beautifully landscaped and prepped by DART but Gov is to maintain it now sine it has been built – the trees are dying and the landscaping is going to shambles.
DART has a huge budget and can do great things with it – but when there is a private public partnership with DART, the projects are typically too extravagantly conducted for the Country/Government to maintain at the same level as it was designed to be maintained at.
For the ReGen project – if the deal is for DART to build the waste management facility and then Gov to staff, train, maintain and operate it – I give the facility 5 years after completion before all the equipment breaks down and we start dumping our trash on a heap again. $2 Billies gone in the garbage.
DART does only what they want, and for as long as they want, not necessarily what they earlier agreed or stated they intended to do. That established track record of backtracking and snatch away clauses makes them an unreliable applicant whether it’s a Planning Meeting or a winning unskilled bidder on a major infrastructure project. We should apply a heightened level of caution with special attention to the Appleby fine print and embedded gotchas. CIG need to have the same caliber of eyes on their side, or we assuredly get screwed.
I can fix the dump problem and the mosquito problem for the price of a gallon of gas. I’ll even supply the matchstick.
Hate to break it to you but that is the approach Wayne has already chosen.
Why pick on DART? ReGen is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) project. In is Cayman’s first official PPP.
and what a classic failure it was
This whole mess is how the civil service, key members in the Office of the Premier and Wayne get their payback on Dart – while the people of the country suffer! Enough is enough, stop the fighting with your so-called government Wayne and get the damn dump fixed!
you’re completely right, stop argument about dart.
… but Cayman will still need to cut the amount of rubbish it generates for it to be sustainable.…
STILL??
I thought ♻️Reduce, ♻️ reuse and ♻️recycle (3Rs) is a cornerstone of the ReGen project.
If not, this is even worse than I thought. Cayman is doomed without properly executed 3Rs.
And STILL cancer hospital is given a green light. Does CIG expect everyone dies of cancer, generating huge revenues in the process of treating cancer while generating more toxic and radioactive waste which in turn will generate more cancer patients?
Were HCCI incinerator emissions ever tested? Were any hospital or radiology services ever inspected for radiation safety? Of course not- there’s still no legislation regulating Emissions and Radiation ☢️ Act. And STILL NOBODY is even thinking about this oversight.
So taking care of the Dump without addressing the root case is madness.
PACT should tear up all 30 PPM pinkie promises and start again with open bid process.
That would cost them plenty more than 2b
Although that would risk a fairly expensive law suit from Dart, it would be cheaper in the long run to drop the Dart contract and invite the French and others back to the table. It’s unclear how much Dart would be out of pocket, so his claim may not be too great. After all, how to you have a contract to agree to agree? The case could be kicked around by lawyers for years! Anyway, Dart probably wouldn’t sue CI Govt. or would settle, as he would lose traction with his other projects if he did.
I believe this is a case of no current action is the best action.
Wayne please address $2 billion bills over 25 years. Without compounding that’s $80 mollion a year ! What about the impact that will have on the Public Management Finance Law- UK will take over !
Chris is right!
The figure quoted does not take into account cost savings from a reduced DEH budget and also CIG revenue from sale of electricity to CUC.
Why would it be CIG revenue if Dart would own the plant until the 25-year term is up?
Begin by banning styrofoan containers and in construction by the ocean. Recycle what you can. Collect fees owed. Gotta start somewhere as our population keep growing!
And zero beneficial impact will be attained.
Ban plastic solo cups
Ban leaf blowers and Voxy’s
What’s a Voxy?
If government is estimating $1.5-$2 billion before is starts there’s no telling what the final price tag will be.
very much likely $3bn
The irony is that you need the waste to generate the electricity to make the project viable. A substantial reduction in the waste available will make the project less viable in the long run. I have been involved with this project in the UK for several years.
https://enfinium.co.uk/
You need 150k tons of waste at a minimum I think. Then the plant breaks down often… and it costs 2 billion. Please shelve the idea now!
“I think”?????
Do you understand how irresponsible such comments are?
That is a fact. Not a “I think”
Thank you.
150k tons is a fact … i added I think to not sound cocky.
The need for lots of garbage is so acute that some countries with WTE – waste to energy had to import garbage .
Trying to reduce garbage is a bad idea for WTE
All said and done stop this project
Assuming you now live here what about offering some free advice to the government process?
Thanks for those facts. There are folks on this island who have spreadsheeted the maths, including the amount of garbage you have to burn to generate electricity. Most folks would be surprised to know we actually do not produce enough garbage for this project to be viable
Panton has not even the first clue what he is talking about.
His waffling delay tactics are costing our country millions of dollars more each month.
Nope he is saving the country from a bad deal
You honestly couldn’t make this up… there won’t be space for ReGen now because Mount Trashmore 2.0 has formed instead. At this rate, at least we’ll be safe from sea level rises
“Our main concern was not with the solution itself but ensuring value for money”
One might be forgiven for thinking that the above statement is in reference to a new meal deal at Burger King.
However, this is actually in reference to a monumental health and economic risk that is threatening the entire population of the island.
Yes this will be expensive (no thanks to the years of dithering). But it NEEDS to be done. And this needs to be ASAP!
probably one of the most depressing updates i have ever read.
yes we know do-nothing-ppm did little….but wayne has had his time and we are still no closer to a workable solution.
mount trashmore…the perfect monument to the gross incompetence of caymanian politicians over the last 30 years
50 years
time for class action lawsuit against the incompetence of the civil service and cig.
direct rule for 2 years while a new raft of political candidates are selected/vetted based on qualifications, experience and integrity. then we have new elections.
there is no-one in cig or civil service with expertise or qualifications to tackle this issue
if we can’t be honest and face these facts we will never be closer to a solution.
This just may be the closest cayman islands under Caymanian leadership will ever get to a solution. There is a line they still just can not cross no matter how much they want to. Just start on pile 2 and keep spending all the money on Caymanian wellfare and be happy about it. Or do something that has never been done before here. The right thing for the future of the island.
the usual non-update from waffler-wayne and no-plan-pact.
an ‘update’ that could have been cut and pasted from any press release over the last 5 years.
the incompetence of cig and the civil service is never ending.