Gambling with the environment

I attended the public meeting staged about a month ago by the National Works Agency (NWA) to discuss the con-struction of the new bridge over the Hope River at Harbour View (which for some reason they call the 'Dry River' Bridge). The project team advised that the Bailey bridge erected two years ago, after the original bridge collapsed, would be taken down, since the new one would be built at the same location.

When the floor was opened for questions, the first (from a perceptive member of the public) was: "If there are heavy rains during construction, and the river comes down, what, in your plan, is the alternative route for the public? Remember how East Harbour View, Bull Bay and St Thomas were cut off from the rest of Jamaica two years ago." I'm sure Minister Mike Henry remembers the answer; he was there!

The answer given was that the public could use the alternative route from Bull Bay through Newstead and Gordon Castle to Papine. The same perceptive member of the public advised that the route proposed was impassable in several places, and was unsuitable as an alternative route. He proposed, with the support of much of the crowd, that the Bailey bridge be re-erected nearby - either slightly upstream or downstream - for the convenience of the public, in the event the ford became impassable. The answer given to that was that they did not think it would be necessary.

The NWA, the consultants and the funders were gambling that the rains would not come, and the simple ford they had constructed would never become unusable before the new bridge was complete. After all, it had served well over the previous two years without interruption!

Of course, they were wrong! Thousands - including everyone in my neighbourhood - are now marooned! When will the Government and the private sector learn that one should never gamble with the environment?

Minister Henry has promised that as soon as the swollen river sub-sides the ford will be rebuilt. I'm sure it will! But is that good enough? How many days will it be before the rains stop? And then how long will it take for the river level to fall sufficiently to rebuild the ford?

And then when the ford is rebuilt, what will happen when more heavy rains come and the river comes down again? We are, after all, in the hurricane season. Just a few years ago, in 2005, the hurricane season lasted until January of 2006. When will this one end? Is it good planning and good management to expect the best-case scenario, to gamble that this year we will experience a short, inactive season, with little rain?

Poor planning and management have consequences, and usually ordinary people rather than the planners and managers feel the pain. Someone should be forced to resign over this! The meeting warned them!

Environmental impact assessment

This is not the only project in which Minister Henry is gambling with the environment. The infamous four-lane highway to the airport - which will secure Minister Henry's place in history - is another case in point. No environmental impact assessment (EIA) has been conducted on this grand scheme being implemented by the government of China. An EIA was done some years ago on a smaller two-lane raised road which was to have been built by the government of Cuba, but this four-lane project with boardwalk has a much bigger ecological footprint, and the old EIA just will not suffice.

Minister Henry is gambling that it will, but I don't believe he should be allowed to. The truth is that we just don't know what the impact of this new grand project will be on the environment, because we have no relevant EIA.

Too many in government and the private sector see the environmental approval process as just so much humbug - a nuisance to be endured and suffered through and bypassed, if possible - rather than an essential procedure to prevent mistakes and minimise future pain. Minister Henry and the NWA should have their own environmental concerns and not divest them to the NEPA/NRCA.

These environmental gamblers are causing us - and are going to cause our children and grandchildren - a lot of pain!

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and a Roman Catholic deacon.