It is amazing how this huge trench has taken a twist - Firstly, we were told that the covering was being built and now we are told that there is problem getting the land to continue the project -In the first place all these issues should have been put out of the way before the project was started. Also, was this huge trench necessary? It could have been very much smaller. So, in the meantime what do we do, 'We the people perish' for lack of vision.

From Sunday's Observer

Work on Treasure Beach canal to resume tomorrow

BY Garfield Myers Editor-at Large South/Central Bureau
Sunday, August 20, 2006



Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth - Residents of Treasure Beach waited expectantly and, as it turned out, in vain last week, for the promised return of heavy excavation equipment to resume work on the drainage canal through the community which came to a halt last month.

The National Works Agency (NWA) now says the machinery will be in place this weekend for the resumption tomorrow of digging of the canal which will channel to the sea, excess water from five freshwater ponds in the area and hopefully prevent a recurrence of last year's massive flooding.

Heavy rains associated with the passage of storms in what was an extremely active hurricane season caused the overflow of the Great Pond and its four satellites late last year, forcing scores of people to flee their homes as water reached roofs and windows. The massive unwelcome lake, formed as water from the five ponds joined together, stayed put for weeks, rendering boats as the only viable means of travel for many in Great Bay in particular.

The NWA's regional manager, Leslie Miller, and other officials of that agency, as well as representatives of the (equipment) contractor, Dr Foote Construction, visited the seaside community on Thursday to reassure residents who have grown irritable at the perceived tardiness of the NWA and its contractor.

Locals are afraid that major flooding will recur before phase one of the canals, linking the Great Pond to the sea, is done. Excavation started in early May.

"Right now, we are in the middle of the hurricane season and as it is we don't see this project being completed before the end of the season, so we have to be praying that we don't have a storm at all," George DeLeon, president of the Citizens Alert Group of Treasure Beach, told the Sunday Observer.

Work is halfway done on phase one of the canal. When complete, it will be over 1,000 metres long, three metres deep, eight metres wide and covered in concrete.

During a tour of Treasure Beach 10 days ago, state minister in the Ministry of Housing, Transportation and Works, Richard Azan, told journalists and residents that $30 million has been put aside for the project which, after the first-phase connection of the Great Pond to the sea, will in the second phase connect the other four ponds.

Work halted more than three weeks ago because of what NWA officials say was a "combination" of reasons, including a "legal hold-up" caused by a landowner's reluctance to agree to terms for the sale of a plot of land through which the canal must travel, and the urgent need at the time for excavation equipment elsewhere.

Miller has pledged that in addition to the resumption of the canal's excavation, work will also start soon on box culverts as part of the effort to facilitate easy drainage.

Flooding in the communities of Treasure Beach has become a major problem in recent years, culminating in last year's disaster. Locals say unplanned development in the fast-growing resort area is the cause - blocking natural water courses from the Santa Cruz Mountains and from the ponds to the sea.

During his visit, Azan said he expected the "legal hold up" over land to be resolved soon. He also made light of environmental concerns expressed in the past by hotelier Alex Wichterich, whose Marblue Hotel is adjacent to the canal's planned outlet to the sea. Wichterich had complained that the project could lead to serious pollution of the beach and coastal area.

But according to Azan, "If we don't correct the (problem) he (Wichterich) won't have a hotel. the government is trying to save his hotel. I don't think that one man or one woman should hold a community to ransom".

Wichterich was off the island last week when the Sunday Observer sought a comment. But member of parliament for South West St Elizabeth, Danny Buchanan, claimed the hotelier no longer opposed the canal's construction.

Everybody want to come to Treasure Beach come run things.