Draft EIA for dump project due this week
(CNS): Officials on the ReGen project, the proposed deal between the Cayman Islands Government and Dart to build waste-to-energy and recycling facilities at the George Town dump, have said the draft environmental impact assessment will be available to the public this Friday, 18 August. As a result, public meetings will begin next week.
However, the CIG and Dart have still not finalised the costly and controversial deal. Earlier this month, the government announced that the talks had still not concluded and the deadline to sign the agreement had been extended to September. CNS understands that the talks are stalled over the question of value for money for the public purse.
In the meantime, Dart has been allowed to work on capping and remediating the original dump site. The technical experts began work in the summer of 2021 on the EIA in anticipation of the agreement between the parties being finalised before the assessment was complete. The assessment had been expected to take around a year to complete.
But it is now more than two years since Dart and other stakeholders held a series of public meetings ahead of the terms of reference being set to guide the EIA. Already plagued with delays the public consultation phase for the project will get underway next week.
Meetings will be held on
Monday, 28 August, at the Harquail Theatre;
Tuesday, 29 August, at the John Gray Memorial Church Hall, West Bay;
Wednesday, 30 August, at the Mary Miller Hall, Red Bay.
All meetings start at 6:00pm.The draft environmental statement will be published and available to download on 18 August from the Department of Environment and ReGen websites.
Hard copies will also be available on the same day at the Government Administration Building on Elgin Avenue, at the public libraries in George Town, West Bay and Bodden Town, at the District Administration Building on Cayman Brac and National Trust House on Little Cayman.
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Category: Environmental Health, Health
Was there a vetted bid process or not? If so was there a bid acceptance? If so, enforce the terms of the bid. End of story.
If not, what are we wrangling with? Create valid bid documents upon which companies can bid. Create a prequalification process so only those companies who have demonstrated experience in the field can bid on the documents …. you know, like in the rest of the world. Award the bid to the lowest bidder, accept their performance bonds, and get it started!!!
Cayman is special. We don’t do what the rest of the world does, because special.
Yes.
Dart is not the solution now. Dart was not the solution then.
If they had finalized and signed the deal years ago when all of this was initially contemplated, then “value for money” would not have been an issue. Yes, we get that the deal at the time was probably suboptimal – but how on earth has it taken a further 2.5 years (and counting) to iron out the details for such an urgent project!
The only reason that “value for money” is now a stumbling block is because of the years of inaction and poor prioritization that has resulted in costs spiraling out of control. The more time that is wasted, the worse the value for money proposition gets. Tick tock…
I highly doubt Dart will hand over the draft EIA on the expected date when the deal hasn’t been ratified yet.
So you won’t be attending any of the public meetings to discuss next week then? Good, one less idiot.
Environmental impact of what? How can you judge the environmental impact withoutout knowing what the agreement provides?
Most importantly, what’s the environmental impact of the do nothing and hope for the best approach of Wayne and crew?
Gotta love the “thoughts and prayers” approach.