The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

RENEW Bahamas’ decision to suspend its services as manager of the New Providence landfill has relegated the site’s woes “back to square one,” according to DNA Leader Branville McCartney, who charged that the Renew Bahamas experiment has proven to be a “complete and utter waste of time”.

Mr McCartney, who has long lobbied for clarity on the terms and conditions of Renew Bahamas’ contract with the government, told The Tribune that Renew Bahamas’ decision effectively renders the last two years of its tenure as landfill manager meaningless, and that the decision represents “another failed agreement by this Christie administration.”

However, Mr McCartney was not convinced that Renew Bahamas’ decision was due to shootings, tyre slashing and widespread theft in Hurricane Matthew’s aftermath as the company’s CEO had told this newspaper, but was rather something that was “teetering on the edge way before the hurricane came”.

Mr McCartney said that alleged poor working conditions and labour issues, as well as malfunctioning machines at the Harold Road dump site, suggests that Renew Bahamas’ decision to suspend its services is likely just its way of “saying bye-bye” to its current contractual obligations with the government.

On Wednesday, Renew Bahamas Chief Executive Michael Cox told this newspaper that the incidents of widespread theft, shootings and tyre slashing, combined with the loss of electrical power in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, had brought landfill operations to “a grinding halt” for the past three weeks.

Confirming that the company has exercised the “force majeure” clause in its contract, Mr Cox said it was uncertain whether the company would return, potentially endangering about 50 Bahamian jobs.

At the time however, Mr Cox hinted that Renew Bahamas’ decision was partially the result of the government’s failure to properly engage with Renew Bahamas over a strategy/plan to resolve the landfill’s problems, adding that Hurricane Matthew had brought the two sides’ strained relationship “to a head.”

Mr Cox also said the company’s request to the Christie administration for post-hurricane support and other assistance had yet to result in a meeting, and suggested this indicated that it wanted Renew Bahamas’ contract “to die.”

The Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS) has now reassumed responsibility of the landfill.

“Unfortunately we’re back to square one,” Mr McCartney said. “Renew Bahamas obviously failed to do anything about the fires. We’ve had fires and again when you see the New Year comes around we probably can anticipate more fires. We are back to the point of where we have been before. We certainly have not moved forward with the remediation of the dumpsite. And I don’t think you’d see Renew Bahamas back there.

“This is their way of saying ‘bye-bye,’ and I think this was teetering on the edge way before the hurricane came. Their services, the working conditions were deplorable for persons working there. Some of the original members who were part of the company had gone to work elsewhere.”

Though he did not give names, Mr McCartney was likely referring to Gerhard Buekes, who stepped down from his position as the company’s CEO earlier this year. He is now Renew Bahamas’ principal shareholder.

“And there was a lot of labour issues, employment issues there,” Mr McCartney continued. “Machines were not working. So this isn’t something that was caused by the hurricane and power outages. This is something that was going to come in any event.”

“For some time now, it is our understanding that they were not operating to full capacity. And what does this mean moving forward with the dump? Are we now in limbo? We now have the months of January to April coming when it is known to have these dump fires, and are we going to be faced with this problem again in the New Year? Where does this leave the issue of the New Providence dump fill is the question.”

Mr McCartney insisted Renew Bahamas’ decision to suspend its services doesn’t exempt it nor the government from disclosing the particulars of the terms and conditions of its contract, as he said that now would be an opportune time for Renew to “clarify the extent of what services have they suspended.”

However, he said a cloud of uncertainty still looms over Renew Bahamas’ decision, particularly with regards to whether or not the Christie administration had any financial obligations to Renew Bahamas or otherwise, as was suggested by Mr Cox on Wednesday.

“We can only speculate, because again, we go back to the fact that we don’t know the scope of their contract, what their contract entails,” Mr McCartney said. “The government was very quiet on that, the government has said nothing over the years, notwithstanding questioning and asking questions regarding the contract.

“So we don’t know if there is some responsibility on the behalf of the government to assist with funding. I don’t know if that was part of the contract. And the government is very quiet. So we’re really calling on the government again to shed some light on, for want of a better word, this ‘garbage’ that’s going on regarding Renew Bahamas.”

He added: “A complete and utter waste of time, Renew Bahamas. And another failed project, failed agreement by this Christie administration, that has been silent on the matter.”

Renew Bahamas, through its 2014 agreement with the government, had the job of securing the 300-acre compound in southwest New Providence, as well as managing the landfill and helping to address the recurring fires.

However, the landfill has been plagued by frequent fires despite efforts by Renew Bahamas to limit them.