PHILIPSBURG–Without assistance by the World Bank and the Dutch Recovery Fund it will not be possible to tackle the “enormous” problems at the dump as laid down in the Fire Suppression Plan and the Road Map Waste Management, including a possible waste-to-energy solution, Country St. Maarten stated in its second progress report to the Court.
The report pertaining to the progress of several activities to prevent fires and smoke at the sanitary landfill was submitted last week Friday.
Government is involved in an injunction filed by residents Barbara Cannegieter and Camiel Koster and law firm Bergman Zwanikken Snow Essed (BZSE) who filed a Court case against Country St. Maarten, the Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Development, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI and current management company of the landfill Robelto and Son B.V. on August 24.
During the September 27 hearing of the injunction, which the Prosecutor’s Office has joined, the Court stated that it expected government to present a road map for the prevention of fires and the emanation of smoke, gases and foul smell; copies of the assignment of research and the test results by certified industrial hygienist EE&G in Miami, Florida; and a report by the Ministry of Defence. Litigants were to create or appoint a foundation to manage any penalty payments that may be imposed.
The Court also provided deadlines for government to submit progress reports, with the deadline for a second report set for Friday, November 23.
In response to these demands, government provided the Action Plan Fire Suppression and a Road Map Waste Management, which in the meantime was approved by the Minister of VROMI and adopted by the Council of Ministers last month.
The Road Map describes “all steps” to come to short- and long-term solutions for the different problems at the dump and with waste in St. Maarten, such as, for example, talks with the authorities in French St. Maarten about possible cooperation, steps to start with the recycling of waste, and research into a long-term solution for waste management.
“For example, it is not yet certain that this will become waste-to-energy,” attorneys Aernout Kraaijeveld and Caroline van Hees stated.
Complex, costly
Government maintains that addressing waste problems is not a simple matter, but very complex and costly. Nevertheless, the first steps have been taken and no significant fires have taken place for almost two months.
The Fire Suppression Plan has been drafted to provide insight into what needs to be done to extinguish fires and to prevent new ones. According to Government, litigants fail to understand or do not want to understand the plan and need to adjust their expectations, as the adage “Rome wasn’t built in a day” also applies to the extinguishing of fires at the dump’s core.
“Plaintiffs mistakenly believe there is a simple solution to a complex problem that has not been resolved for decades,” the government lawyers stated in pointing out that more is required than “leaving the firehose on for a couple of hours.”
According to them, plaintiffs refuse to realise that government is working diligently on a solution, and mistakenly claim that by paying US $6.1 million the problems with fires and smoke could be resolved within a matter of weeks.
Government pointed out that it does not have $6 million available, as the 2018 budget has a deficit of NAf. 197 million. Country St. Maarten depends on World Bank and Recovery Fund assistance to be able to tackle the problems.
Civil servants at the Ministries of VROMI and Public Health, Social Development and Labour VSA are working hard to meet World Bank conditions attached to the signing of the Grant Agreement.
Digital noses
They are also working on the finalisation of all elements in the Fire Suppression Plan, to be funded from the Recovery Trust Fund, for which the World Bank has engaged specialised engineering.
Other elements in the plan include dump security and management and the tenders connected therewith; preparation of a Social and Environmental Impacts Assessments and Safeguards Plan and a Resettlement Action Plan; preparation of the tendering process and terms of reference for the fire suppression contract, the implementation of “digital noses to measure air quality”; and the results of measurements.
Government refutes plaintiffs’ conclusion that nothing is being done. It said, for instance, that dump security has been taken out of contractor Robelto’s hands and has been taken over by government personnel. New full-time security is to start as per December 1.
Dump management will be taken over as per January 1, 2019, until a new partner has been found, as Robelto’s contract expires on that date.
Resettlement Action Plan
The safety of people who have to start working on the dump to lower the core temperature must be taken into account, which was also reason for the air-quality measurements taken by EE&G.
Furthermore, the safety of local residents, in particular the people living very close to the dump, must also be taken into consideration. In case one of the walls collapses, which is a real risk during the excavation of the dump to the burning core, they are at risk of losing their lives, Government states in its report to the Court.
A consultancy bureau will be hired to make a Resettlement Action Plan, starting December 5. This plan is needed to make a start with the relocation of people living next to the dump.
“Due to the possible instability of the landfill slopes, the social safeguards will involve the forced resettlement of a specific squatter population located in close proximity to the landfill. An assessment of the population is currently underway to devise the most appropriate strategy for the forced resettlement, in accordance with the ‘do-no-harm’ policy of the World Bank,” it is stated in the Fire Suppression Plan.
Signing of the Grant Agreement was initially set for the end of October, but postponed until November and postponed once again until the second week of December. Delays in the signing have to do with the cost and financing of the Resettlement Action Plan and the inclusion of the Social and Environmental Impacts Assessment and Safeguards Plan in the Grant Agreement, Kraaijeveld and Van Hees said.
Claimants had asked the Court for a verdict if signing of the Grant Agreement was postponed again, but Government pleaded with the Judge to grant more time to monitor progress. It was pointed out that there are no fires at this time, that everything in Government’s power is being done to prevent any other fires, and that the Netherlands Institute for Public Health and the Environment RIVM has been called in to carry out measurements.
The Judge had called on Government to provide air-quality test results, but Government said it had not yet received EE&G’s final report on the measurements which, it said, would in any case not provide a good impression of the possible effects of dump fires on public health.
In the meantime, Dutch State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops has been requested to facilitate measurements by the RIVM’s Environmental Accident Service MOD.
Government maintained its request that the Court reject plaintiffs’ demands and refrain from imposing penalty payments.
A second round of hearings in the injunction will be held at the Courthouse on December 14.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/83136-govt-says-first-steps-taken-in-tackling-dump-problems
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