By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Environment Minister Kenred Dorsett denied accusations yesterday that the former government sought to “suppress” a damning report from the Pan American Health Organisation, which classified the New Providence Landfill as an “urgent public health hazard” presenting a “chronic health risk” to residents.

Speaking to The Tribune, Mr Dorsett said the report was emailed to him at the height of the 2017 general election season, a period in which he said he was not in office. As a result, he insisted that he did not see the report until after the Progressive Liberal Party suffered a brutal loss at the polls to the Free National Movement.

The former Cabinet minister said it was “nonsense” for anyone to claim that the defeated government had attempted to hide the report, adding that it was that administration that had asked PAHO to conduct an investigation in the wake of a March 5 fire at the landfill.

Mr Dorsett said the report didn’t reveal anything new and it was now up to the Minnis administration to act on the chronic landfill problems.

The report, submitted at the end of April to the former Christie administration from PAHO/World Health Organisation (WHO), called for several short-term “interventions” to be used until long-term sustainable plans could be identified by the government.

Mr Dorsett spoke at the request of The Tribune shortly after a press statement was released by Picewell Forbes, shadow minister for the environment and North Andros MP, addressing the matter.

That statement sought to drive home a message that the former minister with responsibility for the landfill was not asleep at the wheel on this challenge.

“It is a report requested by the former administration and the public was advised in early April that the report was being prepared,” the statement from Mr Forbes noted. “As governments are continuous it is the obligation of the current administration to release it and they have done that.

“The site has major challenges, which were acknowledged by the former administration and the request for proposal advanced by the PLP administration addressed all of the hazards and charted a path for remediation of the landfill, deconstruction, new engineered cells, a materials recycling facility, proper processing of all waste streams, the construction of a water feature between the landfill, Jubilee and Victoria Gardens, air and water quality monitoring technologies, gas extraction technologies and the use of solar membranes to cover historic cells no longer in use to generate clean renewable energy.”

The statement continued: “That process identified a preferred bidder being the Bahamas consortium represented by the Bahamian financial group, Providence Advisors.

“We trust that the new administration will enter into negotiations with the preferred bidder and allow the remediation and operation plan prepared by the Bahamian engineering firm Caribbean Coastal Systems, led by Carlos Palacious and its international consultant Dr Tarek Abichou and approved by the Department of Environmental Health Services to be advanced. Significant work has been done, there is no need to stop or cancel that process, duplicate efforts or waste time or money.

“Governments are continuous, the plan is laid out and the new government should not deprive the Bahamian group from being able to negotiate terms with the government to enable them to solve this long standing issue in the best of interests of the Bahamian people.”

The landfill report said the “partially controlled nature” of the site has only pushed conditions closer toward biological threats.

The report read: “Considering that the landfill related exposure to hazardous substances could result in adverse health effects both, in-site and out-site, the authors of this report consider that the landfill is an urgent public health hazard.”

It continued: “Therefore, interventions to stop people from being exposed are needed in the short-term.”

The report noted that “at least seven” waste sources were identified at the landfill: municipal or urban solid waste; cruise ship waste; green waste; medical waste; marine litter; e-waste and hazardous waste.

Citing concerns that ranged from surveillance of human health to emergency response and community engagement, the report which was made public by the new Minnis administration last week noted contaminants from varying waste sources had already grown to alarming levels and needed immediate attention.

As a result of that March 5 fire, residents in Jubilee Gardens and surrounding areas were forced to evacuate their homes after the community was blanketed by thick, black hazardous smoke.

PAHO officials in their report raised concerns primarily over air quality; particles in dust before, during and after the March 5 fire; affects on the soil in the area in and around the landfill and quality of water sources in direct proximity.

Of water sources, the report noted that freshwater resources in the country are “finite and vulnerable,” remarking that the ground water is “vulnerable to contamination from surface sources such as the landfill.”

The report raised specific concern for residents in communities near the landfill using well water.

Minister of Health Dr Duane Sands and Minister of Environment and Housing Romauld Ferreira have outlined short and long-term plans for the landfill in the wake of the report.