An onlooker surveys the dredging of the Kingston Harbour near the Portmore Causeway yesterday.-Norman GrindleyLynford Simpson, Staff Reporter
THE NATIONAL Environ-ment and Planning Agency (NEPA) yesterday ordered the Port Authority of Jamaica to suspend with immediate effect, all dredging work in the Kingston Harbour.
This follows a claim by NEPA that the Port Authority had breached the terms of its licence, by dumping dredged material in a section of Hunts Bay beyond which it had been licensed.
Conscious that a protracted delay could push up the cost of the US$27 million project, the parties involved, including Belgian Company, Jan-De-Nul, have arranged a meeting for next Tuesday. The work, which started on December 11, 2001, is scheduled to be completed this month.
NEPA drew attention to the environmental breach yesterday through a news release which said: "The notice has been served because of the breach of conditions of a licence issued to the Port Authority and the release of materials into the western section of Hunts Bay."
The environmental watchdog warned that the Port Authority was required to cease all activities relating to dredging and reclamation (and) to remove any encroachment inconsistent and contrary to the terms and conditions of the approved licence or the licence will not be renewed".
A peeved Port Authority fired back with a release of its own later in the day, accusing NEPA of being mischievous. It expressed "surprise and disappointment" at NEPA's tough stance.
"We wish to point out that we have been working with NEPA in good faith from the inception of this project. We have held weekly meetings with them ...having regards to these discussions we think the release to be mischievous," said the Port Authority.
Nonetheless, the Authority has promised to comply with the cessation order and said site engineers were instructed to immediately begin winding-down operations. These should have been completed yesterday.
"It has come to our attention from our monitoring that some of the dredged material ended up in an area where they were (not) supposed to have ended up," Learie Miller, NEPA's Director of Conservation and Protection, told The Gleaner. He explained that the dredged material should be placed in a specific location and that the area in question was on the Hunts Bay side of the Port-more Causeway.
The Port Authority's permit allows for the creation of a particular acreage of land in that area. But "for some reason their operation seem to have caused an overflow of material north of the intended boundary, in the vicinity of the traffic signs near the freezone complex," said Mr. Miller. The containing wall apparently broke and as a result, the fill material is being discharged into an area in Hunts Bay.
Mr. Miller admitted there "could be some implications for marine life and that there could also be implications for some gullies that empty into the Hunts Bay, as the dumped up area could affect the effectiveness with which they discharge water into the Bay.
The lands being reclaimed represent the final segment of the development of phase three of the Kingston transshipment port.
It has not been incident free. In January, Government officials admitted there were credible environmental concerns surrounding the multi-million dollar project. However, they said the problems were not insurmountable and would be addressed by the Port Authority.
