‘Water & Sewerage a disaster’- Hon Mark H. Vanterpool
“Why is it that we are spending, I don’t know the number, but around $30 million on the Water and Sewerage [Department] both on the department level and from the purchase of water maybe $22 or $23 million and it may be more than that for all I know and we are only collecting $2 to $3 million, maybe $4 million maximum every year?” he asked while delivering his contribution to the budget debate in the House of Assembly (HoA) on December 17, 2019.
“Where is the revenue for the other $22 million that we bought? And I am not saying that we don’t have to make some subsidisation of it because in every country that happens with water but there is no way the disparity should be between $24 million or $25 million,” he stated.
Water & Sewerage needs help!
Hon Vanterpool then urged the Government to assist the department.
“Water and Sewerage needs some engineers, some help …some direction. It needs a board that they can sit with on a regular basis, and this board can pay attention to them as they should as a utility. You will see in the record in our last set of cabinet meetings that Water and Sewerage is recommended to go to a statutory level. Hopefully, we can pick up on that and make it possible because not only does it have an impact on us in the manner that we spoke about but it has a profound economic negative impact on the Territory,” he remarked.
Meanwhile, Hon Vanterpool, who was the minister responsible for the subject under the previous Dr D Orlando Smith’s National Democratic Party (NDP) administration, said he is not casting blame on anyone.
“I can’t blame anyone, I won’t blame myself alone either, but Water and Sewerage is a disaster. No-fault of the workers, no fault of the people there but in terms of a strategy of what we are going to do there going forward with a utility such as Water and Sewerage. I think we need to come to the place where we can make a serious decision and make Water and Sewerage under a statutory organisation.”
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17 Responses to “‘Water & Sewerage a disaster’- Hon Mark H. Vanterpool”
This same club member gave most of the water contracts out to his peers and nowhere chatting s***e
Wat ah ting! Hon Mark “Action Man” Vanterpool, D-4 Rep and former MCW, for 8 consecutive years Water and Sewage Department fell under his ministerial portfolio. And by his own admittance, it was an abject failure. Some of the failure of the water system was deliberate and self-inflicted. Under the VIP government, BI-water, a controversial project, was rolled out. It was not a perfect system but it was a good start. Nonetheless, the NDP government for political reasons was hell bent on seeing it failed. Looking back during the 2011 campaign, the BI-water water system temporarily shut down and the Action Man could not control his emotions. He was so excited that he loudly shouted out almost with glee, “Bi-water bruk down.” Go to the tape.
The Action Man has no credibility on this issue. As the MCW, he had the opportunity and obligation to build out the distribution system to completely accept the 2.5MGD that taxpayers were paying for and BI-Water was contractually obligated to deliver. He failed to deliver and the water delivery is still unreliable. Water is still a challenge for too many residents. During his less than successful tenure as MCW, he proposed to merge BVIEC and Water/Sewage. He also send home the current director and had to call her back. Odd.
Nevertheless, water and sewage is a royal mess but the solution is not renaming it a statutory body. It can and should function effectively as a Department. All it needs is some structural adjustments, ie, organizing, planning, design, directing……etc leadership/management…….etc. The BOT ( Build-Operate-Turnover) agreement for water production is nearing the end so is government ready to take over the operation?
Will the company turn over a piece of junk or is government on the ball to ensure that the plant is in good shape before accepting it. What is the plan for operating and maintaining the water plant? Again, the territory boasts of having a $1, 000,000,000.00 gross domestic product (GDP) and a $414M Operations and Maintenance/Capital budget but what is the taxpayers getting and what the territory has to show for it?
Moreover, water is in bad shape but sewage is equally or worst shape. Public is exposed to raw sewage running on the ground or in channels. The scent in some instances is breath taking. Most of the territory is on undersize, poorly constructed and poorly maintained septic systems. The sewage system too is overdue for a major structural and comprehensive overhaul. Many of the functions, processes……etc are a victim of the political structure. People are being put in charge of stuff they have no clue about but beat their chests that all is well. All is not well. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. BVI, there is a problem.