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Friday, July 3, 2009

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FOODIE SPORTS SCOPE REAL TALKS Bring on the land crabs Appropriate template important for Caribbean Games success
Minister: Harbor dredging may cause murky water By JASMIN BONIMY ~ Guardian Staff Reporter ~ jasmin@nasguard.com: With the multimillion-dollar harbor dredging project slated to begin next month, Minister of the Environment Earl Deveaux has admitted that dredging near one of the island's most popular beaches is likely to cause "milky" water. While speaking at the Chamber of Commerce's 'Meet the Ministers' forum last Thursday, Deveaux said his ministry is doing all it can to prevent waters off Saunders Beach from turning murky. "Our environmental stewardship, with respect to the harbor, can best be performed with how we contain material and manage the silt (a fine-grained sediment) and how we protect Saunders Beach and the surrounding beaches." Deveaux added that overflow containers will be installed during the dredging in order to prevent the silt from seriously impacting the shoreline. "We can deal with the issue of water quality and silt flowing through the overflow by adhering to that process. I think they've done as best a job as they could in terms of securing the containment facility," said the environment minister. "It doesn't mean we won't have milky water going down Saunders Beach or floating in the harbor, but we've had remarkable recovery in the past and we see no reason why we shouldn't have that this time." Deveaux added that an environmental impact assessment had been completed on the harbor dredging project. He said experts looked at the damage that was likely to be caused as a result of the project. "In the case of the harbor, they looked at a number of things: The quality of the rock, the location of the spoils, the likely impact on the surrounding beaches, the current of the water and the level of endurance of silt that may arise," he explained. In mid-April, the government committed to spending millions of dollars to undertake the redevelopment of Nassau Harbour, Prince George and Woodes Rogers Wharfs and Arawak Cay. The first component of that redevelopment was committed on April 16 when the government signed a $50 million deal with Boskalis to dredge nearly 2 million cubic yards of material from Nassau Harbour over the next few months. A contract worth $44 million was signed with Boskalis with another $6.6 million in contingency funding put in place. Deveaux said he fully expects the project to begin on time. "The company Boskalis that won the bid [has its] dredges on the way to The Bahamas," he said. "They have mobilized a team here in New Providence. They have started to clear the western end of Arawak Cay in order to receive new material. "We have no reason to believe they won't complete the actual dredging in the time frame they have set, which is by September. Where you will see additional works along the waterfront along Arawak Cay will take them beyond September but the boats are coming." Back in April, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, who spoke at the contract signing, said that in addition to completing the harbor dredging by the end of November, Boskalis — one of five companies that submitted bids for the major project — will construct three mooring dolphins at the Prince George Wharf, and extend the western end of Arawak Cay by 1,000 feet in length by using the dredged material along with steel sheet piles." At the time, Ingraham also said the government will spend an additional $24 million to create an additional one mile of waterfront promenade to Woodes Rogers Wharf to complement the work done at the harbor and at Arawak Cay. Tuesday, June 30, 2009