By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Renew Bahamas yesterday confirmed it has “suspended its services” as the New Providence landfill manager, after shootings, tyre slashings and widespread theft in Hurricane Matthew’s aftermath made operating conditions unsafe.

Michael Cox, Renew Bahamas chief executive, told Tribune Business that these incidents, combined with the loss of electrical power in the storm’s wake, had brought landfill operations - especially the revenue-generating recycling activities - to “a grinding halt” for the past three weeks.

Confirming that Renew Bahamas had exercised the ‘force majeure’ clause in its contract, Mr Cox said it was uncertain whether the company would return, potentially endangering around 50 Bahamian jobs.

With the Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS) now back in charge at the landfill, Mr Cox hit out at what he described as the Government’s “two-and-a-half year” failure to properly engage with Renew Bahamas.

He added that the company’s request to the Government for post-Matthew financial support, and other assistance, had yet to result in a meeting, and suggested this indicated it wanted Renew Bahamas’ contract “to die”.

Mr Cox told Tribune Business: “We’ve suspended services under force majeure because there’s still no electricity down there.

“Our security guards were shot at, and I’ve had the tyres slashed on my car; all four of them. We’ve also had plant and equipment stolen at the landfill.

“Some guys came at night and shot at the security, and because there’s no power, no light and no generator - because it was stolen - there’s also no telephone and no equipment at the site. If something happens, it’s unsafe,” he added.

“We also felt it wasn’t right to continue because all the hurricane waste coming into the landfill meant it was getting 10 times’ the normal volumes when everything else was shut down.”

Mr Cox added that the tyre slashing occurred during daylight hours when his vehicle was parked at the landfill. With no power and no communications, he was indebted to a Renew Bahamas employee for organising the repairs.

The stolen equipment includes a bulldozer, plus compressors, generators and welding equipment that were vital to its recycling operations - the activity supposed to finance all Renew Bahamas activities at the landfill, including its remediation.

Mr Cox confirmed that the company had just begun metals recycling prior to Matthew, in addition to its original materials recycling activities. The recycled product generates all Renew Bahamas’ revenue and cash flow once it is exported and sold to foreign purchasers.

However, the Nassau Container Port’s closure on the Tuesday before Matthew hit brought Renew Bahamas’ supply chain, and business model, to an immediate halt. And conditions at the landfill post-Matthew have prevented the resumption of operations.

“Some of the equipment stolen was essential equipment for the recycling operation,” Mr Cox told Tribune Business.

“I’ve moved some of the assets elsewhere to protect them. One of the pieces of equipment is worth $750,000, and we cannot afford to have that stolen.

“Our supply chain was interrupted, and we generate a lot of sales from exports. We cannot run a business if we’re not connected into that.”

‘Force majeure’ is a clause that effectively free parties to a contract from their liabilities/obligations when an extraordinary event, over which they have no control, arises such as a hurricane.

Mr Cox disclosed that Renew Bahamas had handed management/operational control of the New Providence landfill back to the DEHS on Friday.

He also hit out at what he said was the Christie administration’s failure to properly engage with Renew Bahamas over a strategy/plan to resolve the landfill’s problems, adding that Matthew had brought the two sides’ strained relationship “to a head”.

When asked whether Renew Bahamas was likely to resume operations at the Tonique Williams-Darling Highway site, Mr Cox conceded that this was uncertain. He hinted that the answer was likely to be negative.

“I don’t know if I’m honest,” he told Tribune Business. “I’m still waiting to hear from the Government. I just can’t see it happening. If the Government does not come to the table, I don’t see it happening. I think they want it to die.”

Revealing that Renew Bahamas had requested financial and other support in the hurricane’s wake, he added: “We’re in a partnership where the partner has not showed up in two-and-a-half years.

“If I was in a marriage, and my partner had not shown up for two-and-half years, what do you think I would do? I’m at the end of my tether.

“I’d wanted to sit down with the Government and have a conversation, and no one’s listening. We’ve exchanged letters, but no one’s there. There’s no one to meet me,” Mr Cox continued.

“In two-and-a-half years, I’m still waiting to have a conversation. The last few weeks have brought it to a head, really.

“In 22-23 years of waste management, I’ve not known a partner not to take an interest. If you speak to the Government, ask them how many times they sat down with us in two-and-a-half years to agree an annual plan or a five-year plan.”

Kenred Dorsett, minister of the environment, did not return Tribune Business’s call seeking comment before press time last night.

However, Mr Cox also slammed the lack of support Renew Bahamas has received from different government agencies, revealing that they owed a combined $200,000.

“Different government agencies are not paying up,” he complained to Tribune Business, “like the PHA (Public Hospitals Authority). They’ve admitted liability [for the medical waste], but have not paid their bills.”

The Renew Bahamas chief executive said “the main people I feel sorry for” are its 50 staff, whose jobs may now be in jeopardy.

He added that between 20-25 per cent had returned to work in Hurricane Matthew’s aftermath, acknowledging that many lived in the communities hardest hit by Matthew.

Now their jobs are in peril at a time when they, and their families, need a job and income the most, in order to effect home repairs and other restoration.

Describing Renew Bahamas’ current situation as “a shame”, Mr Cox said the company had suffered “a litany of bad luck”, epitomised by Matthew blowing the roof off its recycling facility just after its baler was finally repaired.

“We were just coming up to seven months without a fire,” he added. “We’d worked tremendously hard to ensure those things stopped, and we’d just started to get on to the PR side and tell people how much we’d fixed. It’s just shame it’s come to a grinding halt.”

Renew Bahamas’ pull-out, even if it is on a temporary basis, creates another potential headache and embarrassment for the Christie administration.

The New Providence landfill has become an even more important public asset in Matthew’s wake, given the vast amount of extra construction and green waste that will need to be disposed of in the storm’s aftermath.

The Christie administration now finds itself back at ‘square one’ with the facility, as the landfill has been returned to its pre-Renew Bahamas status - under DEHS control, a situation that both current and former governments have regarded as unsatisfactory.

It also represents something of an embarrassment for the Christie administration, given how highly it touted the landfill’s management outsourcing to Renew Bahamas, suggesting it would save taxpayers an annual multi-million dollar sum. It now appears that the Treasury will assume this burden again, at least for the short-term.

Renew Bahamas had earlier this year sought to engage the Government in negotiations over revisions to its five-year management contract, having argued that its business model was unsustainable and had produced “millions of dollars” in losses.

In response, the Christie administration appointed the Kikivarakis & Co accounting firm to analyse Renew Bahamas’ financials, and determine whether its request was justified.

However, there were indications then that the Government was seeking a ‘Plan B’ option as an alternative to Renew Bahamas, as it had approached a Bahamian consortium over landfill-related proposals.

The Waste Resources Development Group (WRDG)is understood to have expanded beyond its original four members - Wastenot, Bahamas Waste, Impac and United Sanitation - to now include a total of 10 fully Bahamian-owned companies.