Underground Infrastructure Work Started, Provo Dump gets $500K and New Management

By Deandrea Hamilton

Editor

#TurksandCaicos, November 14, 2023 – Fire hydrants are right now being installed in the Wheeland District of Providenciales and Kyle Knowles, Member of Parliament for the area says the underground infrastructure is key to combatting the fires which have, for years, plagued the island’s landfill or dump site.

“The fire hydrants are necessary.  As you know, in order to extinguish a fire, the necessary water or the amount of water needed will be quite significant so we are doing this in partnership with the Provo Water Company,” said Knowles on camera.

In an informational video, released on Wednesday November 15, Knowles allows viewers to see the ongoing work first hand.

“What you would see behind me is the current installation of 1,000 plus feet of waterline that will aide in the mitigation works, so the current works being carried out today is just phase one in the consultation works being done through the CDB consultants.”

It was on October 31, 2023 during an RTC radio talk show that Hon Knowles unveiled a $500k plan aimed at making the noxious odors and threatening fires of the landfill in Providenciales a thing of the past.

Consultants from the Caribbean Development Bank, (CDB) had been approved since 2016 and on that episode of First Edition with hosts Cherylann Foreman and Zhavargo Jolly, Knowles explained that since the start of the year, the CDB consultants had “hit the ground running.”

“One of the things that we realized is that the dump has a significant amount of ground or underlying fires.  One would say, well just go out there and excavate it and deal with it. So what we have done from the consultants is taken a more strategic approach and I am glad to say that as of today, we have been able to attain some access to $500k to eradicate or extinguish I should say, the fires at the dump.”

The update on the ‘dump’ is a key progress report for this member in particular, as his election bid was hinged on solving the issue and because he is the PNP Administration’s appointed chairman of the Solid Waste Task Force; the remit including not only solid waste challenges in Providenciales, but countrywide.

“After having meetings with the Task Force, we’ve put together a strategy that should take about two to three months to eradicate all of those fires.

Fifteen days later, work has commenced in the area.

Another major announcement by Knowles last month was that the Providenciales dump, after having no management was getting a dedicated overseer.

“We are in the process of confirming the new contractor.  What we’ve done as a government is we’re getting value for dollar.  It’s a more comprehensive contract, one that will be managed properly with the necessary technical aspects in place.  One that will also have the proper machinery in place.  You hear about: incinerator, you hear about tire shredders, you hear about wood chippers well those are some of the things which are a pre-requisite.”

Knowles adds that a Public Awareness campaign is also planned as the landfill in Providenciales gets new management, a departure from being overseen by the employees at the Department of Environmental Health.

Today, Kyle Knowles said, “this is my promise being fulfilled to you. It has taken some time but the work has begun.”

Two more phases are coming, said Knowles, in the Ministry of Health and Human Services sponsored video.