By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE New Providence landfill’s new manager/operator yesterday said it had originally sought longer than the 10-year lease granted by the Government, describing this as a “starting point” to modernise the facility.

Kenwood Kerr, head of Providence Advisors, told Tribune Business: “The contract has a 10-year minimum life. There are clauses that speak to the renewing of the contract based on performance. Originally we wanted something longer, which would have been ideal for us, but 10 years is sufficient time for us to execute and bring the current landfill to a modern state. It’s a stating point.”

The Government yesterday formalised the landfill’s outsourcing to the private sector by concluding the agreement with the Waste Resources Development Group (WRDG) and its Providence Advisors partner, the Bahamian investment house headed by Mr Kerr.

The consortium was selected as the preferred bidder to take over the landfill’s operations - and effect a $130m transformation of the site - in late August 2018. It will takeover operations in 30 days.

“In the simplest terms think of it as a very massive and complex landscaping project. You have indiscriminate dumping and mismanagement of the landfill. In a very structured way, using US-based EPA standards, we are going to cap and cover the landfill on a daily basis and implement what we call a vegetative cap. In the first 90 days it’s going to be very transformative optically,” said Mr Kerr.

“It will transform into a very green space. With the cap and cover strategy, the daily covering will reduce the likelihood of toxins in the air, water and, more importantly for the public, take away the concerns associated with fires. We particularly excited about that.”