$75m for Over-The-Hill sewerage infrastructure

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A project to connect two-thirds of over-the-hill residential dwellings to a centralised sewerage system will cost $74.659m, the Water & Sewerage Corporation’s chair revealed on yesterday.

Adrian Gibson, pictured, told Tribune Business that the proposed infrastructure project was critical to improving sanitary health and the quality of life in Nassau’s inner-city, and pledged: “We’re going to get it done.”

Emphasising that the current price tag was only a preliminary estimate, Mr Gibson said the project - which has not been factored into the 2018-2019 budget - was a core component of the prime minister’s drive to revive over-the-hill communities and their economy.

He added that the works, once approved, would be spread over several years to reduce the fiscal strain on the Government as it seeks to find scarce funding for essential infrastructure and capital upgrades.

“This is something the Government spoke to in its Over-the-Hill development White Paper,” Mr Gibson told Tribune Business. “This is Water & Sewerage’s part in the overall plan to redevelop and revitalise Over-the-Hill.

“The preliminary cost estimate for Over-the-Hill is $74.659 million. What we’re looking at here is the number of homes connected. There are 7,700 dwelling units, with the target of having 5,280 homes connected. We’re developing a masterplan for this specific area. The aim is to revitalise and improve living conditions in Over-the-Hill.”

Mr Gibson said around 28,000 persons lived in the target area, which also contains schools, government and commercial properties. The Water & Sewerage project is focusing on an area bordered on the west by Nassau Street from Meeting Street south to Poinciana Drive; Poinciana Drive to Blue Hill Road; and Blue Hill Road from Poinciana Drive to Robinson Road. The southern boundary is Robinson Road, with Claridge Road/Mackey Street and Madeira/Rosetta/Meeting Streets the eastern and northern boundaries, respectively.

He added that this covered some 1,320 acres, with the planned works critical to improving residents access to piped water and sanitary health. “The socio-economic living standards in Over-the-Hill are among the lowest on the island,” Mr Gibson said. “Many of the homes are old and require upgrading to improve living standards.”

The absence of piped water forces many residents to rely on government stand pipes, he added, while “we’ve discovered that many residents do not have indoor plumbing” and instead rely on outside toilets.

The Water & Sewerage chairman, seeking to illustrate the need for the project, said a low-lying water table coupled with high tides frequently caused back-up and other problems for persons in the area with septic tanks and soakaways.

“These conditions are not ideal, and can precipitate the outbreak of waterborne diseases,” he added. “Infants and the elderly are especially susceptible.

“The introduction of a centralised sewerage system will require considerable street trenching, but it will be part of a holistic approach taken to develop sewerage systems in this area and address current infrastructure needs.”

Breaking the initial cost estimate, Mr Gibson said connecting 5,280 dwellings to a street-level sewerage system was estimated to cost $6.336 million alone. Shared sewerage pipes were pegged at $22.704 million, with local neighbourhood pumping stations set to cost another $24.488 million. Overheads, design costs, taxes and contingencies are likely to add a further $21.33 million.

He added that these cost estimates would be further refined, yet the initial assessment does not include key elements of the Over-the-Hill sewerage solution plan. Once taken from homes to underground street sewers, the waste will be taken to a community pumping station at Malcolm Park.

While there it will be screened, with effluent pumped into an off-site disposal well. The waste will then be taken down the main sewerage lines for treatment at the Fox Hill wastewater treatment plant, which will be the central point for generating all Over-the-Hill created waste.

Mr Gibson said one option for waste transportation was to connect the Over-the-Hill system with the Corporation’s Bay Street and Shirley Street sewer lines. Both would need upgrading to take the increased volume, but neither this - nor the cost of the Over-the-Hill connection; Malcolm Park pumping station; and Fox Hill plant have been factored into the $74.659 million budget.

“We’ll come up with more detailed planning, plus refine cost estimates, as we deploy more teams on the ground and place greater emphasis on moving this along,” he told Tribune Business. “This is a major project to undertake.

“It’s going to be a project spread over a number of years. It’s not in this year’s Budget as it has to be approved. We are still at the stage where we’re examining, reviewing and arriving at preliminary cost estimates. This is a project we certainly want to undertake given the overall New Providence Sewerage Masterplan.”

Mr Gibson’s comments illustrate the difficulty of undertaking essential infrastructure improvements and maintenance at a time of fiscal austerity, and when Bahamian taxpayers are being asked to bear a 60 per cent VAT rate hike.

Many observers are likely to be distinctly nervous at the prospect of a loss-making Corporation, which has already run-up a $150 million-plus accumulated, undertaking such heavy investment at a time when it continues to receive $25 million in annual subsidies from the Public Treasury.

Mr Gibson, meanwhile, said the Over-the-Hill project was part of a comprehensive overhaul planned for the Corporation’s New Providence sewerage and wastewater treatment systems, which presently only service 14 per cent of residents.

“Continued implementation of operational efficiency measures to provide sustainable services, as well as revenue-generating measures to reduce the fiscal burden – as outlined in the Water & Sewerage Corporation Action Plan and the New Providence Wastewater Master Plan – are imperative to improving service provision in the sector,” the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) latest country strategy warned.

“Wastewater facilities (sewer drains, pipes and disposal facilities) are insufficient to service the country. The sewerage system only covers 14 per cent of the population of New Providence and, according to the Wastewater Master Plan 2014, requires “emergency” rehabilitation.”

Mr Gibson said the Masterplan divides New Providence into three sewerage zones or ‘drainage basins’ - Fox Hill, Gladstone Road and the airport. A wastewater treatment plant, able to convert sewerage into irrigation-quality water, is planned for each.

He declined to comment on the cost for executing this strategy, apart from saying it is “even greater” than the plan proposed for Over-the-Hill system.