Health Minister admits WASTE MANAGEMENT solutions taking too long; CDB Study not yet started

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, October 28, 2022 – It is disappointment once again for residents of the Turks and Caicos as the CDB funded study to fix waste management is still in the preliminary stages according to Jamell Robinson, TCI Health Minister in a recent sit down with Cheryl-Ann Foreman.

He admitted that it was taking too long to put the mechanisms in place.

“We’re at the point where we’re going to select the actual consultant to do the work not just in Providenciales but across the Turks and Caicos Islands to see what are the various options that unfortunately is a process that will also take long..”

The CDB Study was touted as a solution for the countrywide waste problem which is especially bad in Providenciales. Fires often break out at the Wheeland dump which is just meters away from hundreds of residential properties in the most populous community in the islands.

The plan was part of a $100 million loan agreement between the PNP Government and the Caribbean Development Bank started more than six years ago.

In terms of the progress the current government has made since they took over Robinson listed two things:

• The delivery unit is dealing with the  CDB Study as a matter of priority which will create strict timelines for the project
• A business case has been drafted for the Provo Waste Site to be treated as a landfill. No timeline was given for the completion of the project with was described as ‘long term’ the Health minister explained that there was the possibly of contracting the garbage disposal to a private carrier.

A task force was established with Kyle Knowles, Wheeland District MP at the fore since earlier this year after continuous small fires and massive blaze that required help from airport firefighters.  That fire, as have others in the past were a real danger and health hazard.

A permanent, effective solution however seems to be years away.