By KHRISNA M VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

A REPORT compiled by the Genting Group last night revealed that there are serious health implications from the way New Providence’s sewage system is managed.

This concern, said Prime Minister Christie, was one of four outlined in a report presented to the government from a 10-week study that looked at the efficiency of electricity generation to date. Mr Christie added that the cost of electricity has hindered potential foreign investments and continues to place a financial strain on thousands of Bahamians.

Moving forward, Mr Christie said his administration will move to appoint a task force that will not only review Genting’s report, but examine several other independent proposals for energy efficiency.

The report, he said, focused on “the examination of the question of the production of water and how to reduce the cost to Bahamians. They have examined the question of solid waste and how we manage the sites where solid waste is deposited, and the serious implications to the health of the country on the basis of how the sites are managed. 

“The question of sewage and the limited coverage of an efficient and effective system for the island of New Providence and the extreme implication to what that poses to health and the risk associated therein in the continuing use and over use of ground water sources was (also) embraced for our purposes.

It is “enormously difficult for the country to effectively examine the question of sewage and the extraordinary cost associated with a safe process,” he said.

The Prime Minister said the government will work to implement very quickly the suggestion of the Genting Group.

Genting has financially backed the construction of a new casino at Bimini which is expected to open by March of next year.

It was that investment which sparked the Genting study, Mr Christie said.

“The result of our discussion was that the chairman of Genting indicated that one of their subsidiaries, Genting Energy, which had a significant presence in the Far East headquartered in Malaysia whose Chief Executive Officer Mr T S Ong agreed to conduct a study for the government without cost, that is – free.”