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New, stringent posture on illegal construction makes fines, personal demolition and possible deportation legal says PDM Minister, law now passed

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#GrandTurk, Turks and Caicos Islands – February 19, 2018 – Shanty construction will be a thing of the past in the Turks and Caicos Islands once the legislation recently passed in the House of Assembly gets to flex its muscles and lift the country to more resilient buildings.

The tone resonated on all sides of the House of Assembly at the start of the month, as Minister of Infrastructure, Housing and Planning, Goldray Ewing got his amendments passed for a tougher policy stance on unlawful construction.  The Minister said it is in the name of taking country laws more seriously. PTS INSERT

The Minister explained that he is prepared to lose the votes, lose the popularity and will not run interference with the way the law is meant to play out.  His advice to those building without Physical Planning Department approvals was firm and unmistakably clear.

“I am warming persons in the Turks and Caicos who are breaking the planning laws and regulations to stop. lf you built your house last night, without planning permission, my friend, tonight you should break ‘em down.  If the nail is halfway in, don’t send another lick on it, pull it out instead.  Mr. Speaker we have to get serious about enforcing the laws in our country.”

For decades the country has watched government administrations offer tough talk on making the changes required to put an end to shanty towns which are prolific throughout the Turks and Caicos Islands. Now, the law has teeth with an undergirded element of enforcement which has seen more inspectors and development officers added to the Department this month.

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“Mr. Speaker I have brought this because I know it is one of the major issues affecting this country and I will not pass the buck to the next government.  What we have to do today, we will do it today.  I will not kick the can down the street.  People might say they hate me, people might say they are not going to vote for me the next election, well Mr. Speaker, I don’t care, if you are not going to vote for me because of this, then Mr. Speaker I don’t need their vote.”

Hurricanes Irma and Maria offered to the country an opportunity, Minister Ewing had expressed to Magnetic Media in a previous interview.  Hon Ewing believes the reconstruction which is now necessary after 80% of buildings were damaged in the pair of September 2017 storms will enable his team to eradicate bad building through a new fine system, which demands proper oversight by the Physical Planning team.

“I am saying from now, my hands are off this.  I will not interfere with Planning (Department) activity.  They have my blessings to carry out the law.”

The Minister, during his wrapping up on February 5, 2018 in the House of Assembly said the plan is not to bog down the courts with complaints and civil cases, but to offer a stern solution to discourage illegal building in an effort to also ensure more stringent and safe construction codes.

“Persons don’t have to go to court and be prosecuted.  If they are given a notice or a ticket, go and pay the fine – break down and clean up.  It is as simple as that.”

The amendment to the Planning Ordinance will not only introduce a system where unauthorized constructions will be ticketed, similar to the road traffic system, but it will support migrant laws.

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“I will be pulling on Section 10 of the Immigration Status Ordinance and Section 18 of the PRC (Permanent Residency Certificate) Status Ordinance to make sure I deter folks from building without permission.  Because if they don’t break it down, they will be prosecuted in a court of law and if they be found guilty, they can very well get their status revoked and get deported out of this country.  I will be calling on Immigration to step up their efforts once someone goes to court under Planning Ordinance to follow through for me… we will have to be serious in our approach and consistent in our approach.”

In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, it was strongly recommended by organizations like the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, CDEMA that the Turks and Caicos use the reconstruction period to improve building codes and standards; structures ought now able to withstand winds of 200 mph or more.

The Turks and Caicos previously built for winds of around 140 mph, according to reports to Magnetic Media.

Magnetic Media is a Telly Award winning multi-media company specializing in creating compelling and socially uplifting TV and Radio broadcast programming as a means for advertising and public relations exposure for its clients.

Crime

RTCIPF – Unidentified Male Shot

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***MEDIA RELEASE***

#TurksandCaicos, March 18, 2024 – A shooting incident has resulted in a fatality, with officers of the Serious Crime Unit currently at the scene.

Preliminary reports state around 9:17 pm today (March 18th), a call was placed to the Police Control Room indicating a male was shot at a location in Five Cays, Providenciales.

Officers arrived at the scene and found the lifeless body of a male with what appeared to be gunshot wounds.The victim was wearing long blue pants and a black t-shirt.

Further details surrounding the incident, including motive and the victim’s identity, are under investigation.

The RTCIPF asks the public to notify the closest police station, contact 911, the Serious Crime Unit at 231-1842, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-8477, and anonymously give any information on this murder.

Additionally, persons are encouraged to download the CrimeStoppers P3 app and share information.

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Bahamas News

RBDF Operation Strengthens Maritime Security Amidst Regional Turmoil

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Defence Headquarters, 17 MAR. ’24: A joint operation between the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) and the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) led to the apprehension of 50 Haitian migrants approximately 5 nautical miles west of Bell Island on Saturday, March 16th.

The operation was initiated following the initial sighting of a sailing vessel, believed to be of Haitian origin, 8 miles southwest of Staniel Cay in the Exumas. RBDF swiftly deployed air and surface assets stationed at Matthew Town Inagua, supported by Police officials in Staniel Cay who verified the sighting. The migrants were intercepted by RBDF personnel stationed at the Land and Sea Park, Wardrick Wells Exuma, and subsequently handed over to the safe boat crew. They are currently under apprehension pending further investigation, with the imminent arrival of HMBS Rolly Gray.

In response to the ongoing instability in Haiti, Commodore Raymond King has announced the implementation of a strategic blockade in the southern Bahamas. This initiative includes the deployment of six surface vessels, one aircraft, and 120 highly skilled RBDF personnel. Patrol operations will be concentrated in critical areas such as the northern coast of Haiti, the Old Bahama Channel, and the Windward Passage, with the aim of deterring unauthorized entry attempts and preserving maritime security in the region.

The effectiveness of these decisive measures is evident, with recent apprehensions totaling 247 individuals by the RBDF. Commodore Raymond E. King emphasizes the commitment to bolstering maritime security through collaborative efforts with regional partners and local law enforcement agencies.

The Royal Bahamas Defence Force remains committed to safeguarding the nation’s borders and territorial integrity, working collaboratively with regional partners.

(For further information please contact the RBDF Public Relations Department or visit our website: www.rbdf.gov.bs, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and view our Youtube channel)

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Provo International Airport reaches tipping point; desperate hunt for rooms for 200 Travellers left stranded

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Deandrea Hamilton

Editor

 

#TurksandCaicos, March 16, 2024 -Despite the desperate situation, no one is comfortable with ferrying hundreds of stranded tourists to nearby North Caicos to put them up in hotels after a dismal day at the country’s main airport; there are little to no rooms in Providenciales.

The Turks and Caicos Islands, one of the Caribbean’s most alluring destinations is plagued by an airport experience consistently delivering to it, a black-eye and on Saturday March 16 it was particularly ugly.

“For those of you waiting in inbound flight 855 JFK to TCI we have been diverted to Dominican Republic, DR.  I will try to post if I get any info.  Have a few drinks.  It’s going to be a while, said Julie Desantis on Turks and Caicos Tourist Guide, a Facebook community page.

Deb Ballard, who said her delay was more than six hours added, “Airport here in TCI is unbearable.  All the flights seem to be delayed, a thousand people in rooms built for a couple hundred.  Trapped.”

There was reportedly also a flight from Philadelphia diverted to the DR.

And too numerous were reports of the frustration of travellers at the Providenciales International.  Some, we were informed, were caught in explosive arguments while towing the chaotic, slow moving security checkpoint lines.  As flights were being called, passengers tried to rush ahead of others who had been waiting and in some cases that led to verbal confrontations.

It’s the kind of last impression, travel destination do anything they can to avoid.

We’ve learned there was no real help on the ground, in the terminal earlier in the day; however, by Saturday night, Josephine Connolly, the Minister of Tourism was at the airport vowing that no one would sleep at the facility.

“I will make sure that no one sleeps here.  I am doing my best to accommodate everybody that why I am here, my PS is here and Mr. Smith is here from the airports authority,” said Connolly.

She was hoping to also run interference of negative publicity for the destination and its main airport but this action by her may be a courtesy coming a little too late. In the age of self-reporting, passengers were free to film, comment and convey whatever was their experience and disappointment and many did.

It is how residents became most acutely aware of the dire situation; social media posts by guests themselves who were trying to understand what was going on and what to do about it.

It’s anyone’s guess why the Providenciales International Airport (PLS) is an absolute mess today because up to now, there has been no statement, no explanation, no directives and no solution for the thousands of travellers impacted and the hundreds stuck at the airport with nowhere to stay.

Magnetic Media has fielded dozens of questions and comments and perspectives including a message shared with the Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association, TCHTA which explains as many as 200 guests were in dire need hotel accommodations for the night.

“We are looking for any property owners/villas that has vacancy and can accommodate these stranded guests.  We are making calls to the hotels and for the most part most of the hotels are at 100% capacity.”

The surging tourism interest in the Turks and Caicos Islands is famously embraced; touted by government and industry stakeholders, and it’s been communicated that an overcrowded airport “is a good problem to have” on the way to fixing it.

But that message and the years’ long wait have become a vexing cocktail that even residents say they are tired of guzzling.

“…TCI can’t handle the volume of flights they schedule.”

The situation is so impossible, that there is serious – though admittedly, last resort – consideration for a ferry ride to shuttle the hundreds of travellers into another island, North Caicos, where there are guest rooms available.  In the dark of night and with no real illumination on the water way, that idea of a 45-minute ferry for people tired and frustrated by cancelled travel plans is not gaining traction and will likely be nixed and will hopefully not be needed.

“I have a guest that left here after 12 noon and just contacted me 45-minutes ago and is asking my assistance for booking the hotels in Provo and getting them a taxi,” said a resort employee who is worried about his guests and wonders what is the problem at the airport.

Magnetic Media has reached out for a comment from the TCIAA, whose CEO has also been given  the task of taking calls from vacation villa owners or resorts which have rooms for lodging; but there were no official statements up to publication time.

At midnight, there were mixed reports from guests.  Some having been set up with a one night stay, others who had no clue what was next.

March is normally busy and the Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority, TCIAA which manages the country’s airports should have anticipated that, explained hotel workers and others in the industry who are concerned about their guests and clients.

“Private jets are affected because they’re not allowed to land between 12 and 3 in order to avoid creating even more air congestion, the Miami Center, which controls the space around us, reassigns take off times to private jets despite their intended time.  So they are help up for sometimes, an entire day.”

Airline charter services are also skittish.

“…for fear they will get so delayed they will miss their next contract.  So now we are starting to risk our most top end clients as well as airline passengers.”

And the Airports Authority is not having the best time of it either.  Plagued with a wave of staff unrest which has led to some workers walking off the job, others taking industrial action and sudden terminations which are piled atop the infamous infrastructural dilemmas, it is clear any further delay on an immediate fix for the PLS will be detrimental to return guests and tourism on the whole.

“Three hours to get through the security line and then the delays,” explained a couple who are still at the Providenciales International though it is now minutes to midnight, adding, “So we have been here since 10:30 this morning and two of the people, the workers, they ran away from me.  They just left.  They just ran away, they were done!”

The guests are at the airport hoping for word on somewhere to rest their heads for the night.  TCIAA security officers have told them, they cannot sleep at the airport though many of them speaking to our reporter on the scene were prepared to do so.

Celeste Wagner Russ, a visitor to the TCI said: “The airport desperately needs an expansion – for passengers.  The space is mobbed, dirty and basically unhealthy for anyone.  The ladies room on the upper level is worse than anything I’ve ever seen in Penn Station.  The furniture is worn, dingy, and a very dismal welcome or departure.  For the tremendous number of travellers to T and C, this airport is a disgrace.”

The TCIAA, last month revealed, it had a short list of companies who qualified to advance to the next phase of the bidding battle.  The scope of work includes not only construction of an expanded airport, but management of it.  The end may be in sight, but it is admittedly years away from fruition.  An interim remedy for the PLS, is needed now.

“The congestions is exacerbated by no parallel taxiway. Which means an airplane can’t land and immediately get out of the way on the runway for the next guy to land because there is no parallel strip it could turn on to taxi to the terminal. So it takes twice as long to get each plane off the runway because they land, turn around and taxi back to the airport, where there may not actually be a parking space opened up for them yet.”

Residents in social media posts have called for flights into Providenciales to be spread out over the day; currently there is a bottleneck; commercial airlines are bunched up and landing at the strip almost one right after the other between noon and 3pm, while the mornings and evenings are like a graveyard.

Airlines have not wanted to change their schedules, and the fear is that any demand by the Turks and Caicos Islands could lead to destination Providenciales being dropped from the flight itineraries of the major air carriers.

Many have labelled that reasoning, given the phenomenal performance of tourism in the Turks and Caicos Islands, “a load of nonsense.”

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