Dear Editor,
Your Newspaper of Sept.06, 2019 had buried on page 9 an Important Notice. This was an invitation from the Grenada Ports Authority, an “Independent” Statutory Body whose Authority was quoted as Act CAP.247, revised Laws of Grenada, Section 69, Subsection 1,2,3, and4.
Basically the Act gives said Authority certain powers to operate, manage and vests control over maritime activities within defined precincts of Port of St. George.
The Port Authority exercises its authority as it sees fit and has a history of claiming and or stating same. It has often been accused of doing so with high handedness.
It boggles the mind therefore to see an invitation “proposals” (Bid?) for the removal of “Barge – located in Lagoon in the Port of St. George”.
“The wreck must be totally removed……. in an environmentally safe manner”, the invitation states.
There is only one “Barge” in the Lagoon, and its genesis is that at some time it was the property of and or associated with the Contractor who created the St. George’s New Port.
This ‘New Port” was a “Private” entity which was subsequently SOLD, and in which the Port Authority is now a Shareholder with others.
At the time, early 2001-2003, the then Manager in response to enquiries about the placing of numerous marine assets of the “Private Developer” declared both publicly and privately, that space had been granted within the precincts of Port St. George as a “temporary” staging post.
Assurances were given that these assets would be removed when the Project was complete. Many would recall that “concerned” citizens raised issue with the despoiling of the St. George’s Lagoon, its environs, and numerous environmental impact questions.
The “promised removal” never happened, and now the Port Authority is requesting proposals for the removal of the wreck, so this raises the following questions – Who was/is the “owner” of this Barge? What assurances were given that it would be removed from Port St. George, at completion of aforementioned Project?
Many other items associated with the original contractor also stored at that site were sold to the Developer of another different Project.
That Developer did remove assets he bought.
Did the sale include all assets of the New Port Developer, or did the Developer of the second project not buy the wreck/Barge as it is now declared?
If not, why did the Port Authority not enforce its authority to have the original Developer remove this “wreck” at his own expense, rather than that of the Taxpayers? Was that not part of the original arrangement?
Why are the “People” of Grenada, Taxpayers being called upon to dispose of the wreck of Private Developers who have been handsomely paid for work performed, and have since left the Jurisdiction?
Is this a failure of the Port Authority, or some other competent Authority? Is it not customary in projects of this magnitude, that certain performance Bonds are required, that would protect the interests of the Port Authority, and Grenadian Tax Payers?
Why did the Authority fail to ensure that the interests of the Grenadian Tax Payers were protected? Is this incompetence by the Authority, or something else?
To appreciate the magnitude of this failure, we need only look back to the early 1990’s when another marine Contractor, “Sea Works” created the Caricom Warf and filled in the inner Lagoon that now serves as the Container Park. At the time Sea Works, left a Barge anchored in the Grand Mal area and departed Grenada.
The Ports Authority found itself several times a week having to go to Grand Mal and pump out this leaky derelict. Eventually, the Ports Authority, unable to get the “owners” to remove said derelict and to avoid it becoming a hazard to marine interests, towed said Barge to Halifax Harbour, where it now rests on the bottom and is being filled in with silt.
This eyesore and another wreck have been abandoned in Halifax, just another unsightly garbage heap in “Pure Grenada”.
Many of the current actors at the Grenada Port Authority, were at the Authority back then and have a duty to recall these matters and should have acted to protect Tax Payers from this repeated folly or otherwise.
Undoubtedly, some large sum will be paid out of the National Coffers to some duly appointed Bidder to remove the wreck, and Tax Payers have a right to know whose abysmal failure is this.
Crane Operator