BASH director Terry Miller. Photo: Tim Clarke/Tribune Staff
By JADE RUSSELL
Tribune Staff Reporter
jrussell@tribunemedia.net
AN environmental advocate is calling on the government to stop its plans to construct a new $290m hospital, citing concerns over the destruction and deforestation of Perpall Tract Wellfield.
Terry Miller, executive director of The Bahamas Association for Social Health and founder of EARTH Village, told The Tribune yesterday that he has already seen workers marking areas, placing stakes, and cutting roadways through Perpall Tract Wellfield for the 50-acre medical facility, which will be located in the western part of New Providence. The 200-bed specialty hospital will primarily serve women and children, offering a neonatal unit, imaging services, morgue and pathology services, and telemedicine.
The Perpall Tract Wellfield, a 212-acre plot secured by the government in the late 1930s, was originally intended to provide water to the city of Nassau.
Mr Miller said the coppice forest is the worst possible location for the new hospital, describing it as the most ecologically sensitive area in New Providence. During a 2005 rapid assessment of Perpall Tract, Mr Miller said there was a discovery of over 150 plant species and more than 50 medicinal plants in the area.
He also noted that birds have made the forest their home for decades and that the construction of the hospital would destroy their nests.
Mr Miller said the Davis administration’s intent for the proposed hospital contradicts their strong stance on climate change and being aware of the environmental challenges the country faces.
The government plans to break ground on the new $290m hospital by September 2024, despite opposition from some residents in the surrounding community. The 50-acre facility will be located off the New Providence Highway between the six-legged roundabout and Saunders Beach roundabout.
Dr Michael Darville, Minister of Health and Wellness, pledged to Tribune Business in May that the hospital would be “a Bahamian hospital” after the China Export-Import Bank agreed to fully fund it through a 20-year loan with an interest rate of just two percent.
In June, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed facility revealed that historic wellfields are located at the Perpall Tract site, which currently acts as a natural drainage area for surrounding communities.
The study, conducted by JSS Consulting, noted that drainage swales and flood control ditches would be necessary to prevent flooding in nearby residential areas. It emphasised that developing an adequate drainage system to manage floodwater will be crucial to minimising the hospital’s environmental impact.
During a rowdy town hall meeting in May, residents also voiced their opposition to the construction of a$290m hospital. Residents from the Stapledon, Rock Crusher, Dolphin Drive and West Grove communities gathered to discuss their grievances at the Stapledon school auditorium.
Dr Gemma Rolle, president of the Medical Association of The Bahamas, said doctors were unaware of the plan and questioned how the government would staff the facility given the burden and current lack of manpower at Princess Margaret Hospital.
Comments
truetruebahamian 4 months ago
This is a case of plp stupidity and insensitivity once again in capital letters. There should be nothing built on our wellfields. If this is a project needed, then go further west. Also the incomprehensible idea of using any connection to the China Export-Import bank should be discarded and permanently abandoned.
DiverBelow 4 months ago
By the fact that Government is willing to sacrifice a known important, valuable wellfield and pursue involvement with China Export-Import Bank; these are indicators of the financial deficit they find themselves in. The wellfield is in their portfolio thus no need to buy property & few would provide such low low rates, even with knowing the true cost & long term commitments demanded by this group's arrangement. Many Caribbean Governments have refused such terms after their own strong-arm experiences. Buyer beware!! New Providence is an overpopulated island with little natural spaces left, protect what you have!
truetruebahamian 4 months ago
So true, and the dim brains of our governmentsbecome more and more evident.
Regardless 4 months ago
Will become a new shanty town so Haitians can be first on the hospital line.
ExposedU2C 4 months ago
Future adverse impacts of climate change on our nation's scarce natural resources pale in comparison to the current threats posed by environmentally harmful decisions made by the corrupt Davis led PLP government.
Numerous independent research studies done in recent years by teams of highly reputable hydrologists affiliated with globally renowned conservation and preservation organizations have all concluded The Bahamas already is in the midst of a most serious freshwater crisis that is being exacerbated by government's failure and/or refusal to acknowledge and properly address the underlying issues.
High ranking officials at Consolidated Water and the Bahamas Water & Sewerage Corporation have also repeatedly warned the government that many Bahamians may find themselves without an adequate supply of available and/or affordable freshwater before the end of this decade, if not sooner, due to underground pipe leakages and the escalating cost of producing freshwater by means of reverse-osmosis or other desalinization methods. The cost of barging water to the islands long ago became prohibitive.
Yup, it seems the corrupt and incompetent Davis led PLP government are quite willing to sit on their useless arses and watch us all die of thirst in the not too distant future.
empathy 4 months ago
This entire project and its location is a bad idea! The reasons are obvious as stated in the piece above. The problems of tertiary maternal & child healthcare in the public sector has little to do with infrastructure at PMH (that can’t be solved with alteration of the existing facility using plans from the Beck Group), but stem from poor management and compensation within the public healthcare system.
This includes a poor financial infrastructure of healthcare funding, management and compensation for healthcare professionals (especially physicians, nurses and allied healthcare/technical professionals), and maintenance of expensive and technical infrastructure and equipment. See the deterioration of the only decade old Critical Care Block.
Political parties all want to point to an infrastructure project that they provided, not realizing bad projects hang around their necks like a sinking albatross. We need bipartisan projects that span any one five-year administration. We’re much too small and vulnerable to survive wave after wave of stupid decisions. If the present Davis Administration wants to do something bold around healthcare they should seriously take on the mandate of funding a proper expanded national health insurance which will have to include folks paying into an insurance plan similarly to their national insurance tax which has become a lifeline for some folks for workman’s compensation and an aid to their retirement savings.
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