New deal inked to operate city dump

New deal inked to operate city dump

Landfill will now be called, ‘New Providence Ecology Park’

 

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – A contract to own, operate and remediate the New Providence Sanitary Landfill, often referred to as the city dump, was signed between Waste Resources Development Group and government on Thursday.

The contract takes effect in 30 days.

The new company takes over from the landfill’s previous owners, Renew Bahamas, whose contract came to an abrupt end under the former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) administration.

According to the new owners, the city dump will now be referred to as the New Providence Ecology Park (NPEP).

“One of the first immediate steps is the covering of the landfill,” Kenwood Kerr, chairman of New Providence Ecology Park Board said.

“We will be ensuring that there is proper receipt of waste streams and covering that with appropriate amount of topsoil so that you don’t have any of the past experiences coming back to bear.”

Kerr’s reference to past experiences includes a devastating fire back in April 2017 which saw the landfill burning for weeks.

It was declared a national emergency as neighbouring communities suffered from blankets of smoke and ash.

Kerr highlighted that the ecology park will employ new techniques to mitigate future mishaps.

“That technique specifically is an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standard, out of the United States (US), which is a cap and cover strategy that is widely used in the US; that’s the standard that we will be employing here in The Bahamas,” Kerr highlighted.

The ecology park will focus its efforts on composting, recycling and in the long term – the production of renewable energy.

In broader terms, the company will also construct community green spaces for recreation.

“In the concept of the word, ‘ecology,’ we are having green spaces created, footpaths and we also anticipate – after having capped and covered and putting in a vegetative covering – that we will have an ideal green space with a mini-golf course, walking and running paths,” he said.

The NPEP currently covers 93 acres of waste disposal area.

Kerr doesn’t expect the landfill to outgrow its current location for at least another three decades.

“The whole project was to apply modern scientific landfill processes so that we could extend the life of the landfill to 2053,” he said.

“So, with our cap and cover and the management of the waste streams, we intend to extend [the life of the landfill] another 35 years.”

Kerr estimates that the operation and remediation of the NPEP will cost an estimated $45 million dollars.

The project is expected to provide up to 45 long-term jobs.

About Theo Sealy

Theo Sealy is an award-winning journalist who serves as senior broadcast reporter and weekend TV news anchor at Eyewitness News. He has achieved several career milestones, including his work as a field contributor with CNN, his coverage of four consecutive general elections, his production of several docuseries and his Bahamas Press Club Awards win for “Best Television News Story” in 2018.