That the Ship Salvaging and Removal component of the Emergency Debris Management Project will soon commence (see related story) is no doubt good news. It comes as the annual yachting season is slowly winding down, but at least creates some future prospect for finally ridding the country of many major eyesores and maritime hazards.
In any case the actual clearing of about 100 boat wrecks in Simpson Bay Lagoon and Mullet Pond as well as other shoreline rubble resulting from Hurricane Irma in September 2017 isn’t foreseen to start until July. The damaged vessels’ owners must first be given six weeks in writing to collect these in an environment-friendly way and it’s only after this period that a procurement process can be initiated to have what remains removed.
Some may ask if all this could not have been accomplished earlier. However, there are several legalities to consider, including property rights and insurance matters.
As the money is coming from the Dutch-sponsored St. Maarten Recovery and Resilience Trust Fund managed by the World Bank with its strict rules and regulations, assigning the work expected to take 150 days among independent contractors could take a while too. Nevertheless, once the final approval has been given it should provide some much-needed jobs, even if temporary.
An interesting issue is what will be done with the wrecks. When the sanitary landfill and provisional Irma dump were frequently burning last year, authorities banned flammable fibreglass materials at both locations.
Instead the wrecks will be taken to a so-called decommissioning yard for waste separation and processing. The segregated parts will then be transported offsite for approved disposal or recycling.
The latter will probably depend to a great extent on aspects of solutions being sought to upgrade the overall collection and processing of solid waste on the Dutch side, which is also increasingly urgent because the landfill reached its maximum capacity already in 2008.
While a lot more must thus obviously be done in this area, it’s important to recognise continued efforts to tackle one step at a time the unsightly mess still to be seen on the island.
