Last Updated on October 1, 2019, 9:26 AM AST by Anthony Morris
The St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) candidate for St Christopher 4, Ambassador Steve Wrensford is challenging remarks that there was “zero damage” to the Old Road Bay Realignment Project from the recent passage of Tropical Storm Karen.
While Parliamentary Representative Hon Lindsay Grant and Chief Executive Officer of Rock & Dirt Limited, Alexes Hazel in separate statements claim there was no damage, video footage and still photos show some level of damage to the area.
Even Old Road Bay resident “Buckie Gott It” in his Live FaceBook video report from the scene stated: “While Old Road Bay is passable, the work that the guys (contractor)have put in, definitely being destroyed.” He then focuses on some of the damage caused to the project by the pounding waves.
Photos of the damage, which showed large puddles of water where the top soil was washed away, rocks strewn all over and the matting which was laid was dislodged in several areas, were viewed by Ambassador Wrensford.
“Once you’re doing a project of this nature what you want to happen is that you want to get a test to get a better feel of how the design is going to react to what we are trying to accomplish here and the design held up perfectly. The reason why I am saying that is because with this rough water we had for two day I had absolutely zero damage,” remarked Hazel in the government’s press statement.
However in an interview with The Labour Spokesman, Wrensford said: “The question is whether they had done an EIA[Environment Impact Assessment]. Had you done an EIA, you would have been able to design the project in a way that would mitigate against those flooding in the low lying areas along the coast line going towards the Sandy Point area because that area is already under siege when it comes to the weather. Saying no damage was done is a statement that is not true. Some persons who passed would have seen that there has been damage, that there was damage. The area is not finished and once the water comes it will take away from the soil and it’s going to move from the rocks…”
He continued: “For me the larger question is whether the government intends to compensate persons when their houses are damaged or is the government going to relocate people from those areas so that they don’t be placed in increased danger based on the more serious hurricanes that are coming fast and furious nowadays.”
Hazel is also quoted for having commented on the purported threat to other coastal areas created by the revetment work on the Old Road Bay Road project in saying: “This is like a drop in the bucket. If you push back the Old Road Bay water about 30 feet out, you’re also cushioning the sea that comes to it and so you’re not really forcing the water around to Halfway Tree and others because we are not claiming back acres of land, you’re just doing some revetment work on the coastal area. So you’re really not putting any pressure back on Sandy Point and Halfway Tree as some people would think.”
Wrensford, during the interview, stated that he has a problem with the design and not the project itself.
“They had a chance to correct the design taking into consideration persons along the coastline. I have no problem with the project; I have a problem with the way it is designed and we don’t have any information about whether they’ll be any mitigation correction along the coastline so that those persons who live along the coastline-in Middle Island, Verchilds and Half Way Tree… Are we going to wait until a hurricane gets here and does damage along the coastline for us to take stock as to what mitigating remedies we can put in those areas? Because the water must find somewhere to go. The water is being pushed out so it has less space than it had before so it has to find some avenue in where it can relieve itself and always it’s going to be along the low lying areas of the coastline.”
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
