UPDATE: Island-wide clean-up campaign kicks off in Road Town
The work, which started this morning Tuesday November 22, 2011, is being done by contract as according to Minister for Communications and Works Hon. Mark Vanterpool, it was seen as urgent.
He told Virgin Islands News Online that the cutting of bushes and removal of garbage would be done from the waterfront area in the vicinity of the Commercial Court to the Queen Elizabeth II Park where the National Parks Trust (NPT) has already been sprucing up the surroundings in time for the upcoming mega concert series this weekend.
"This area has been overgrown for quite some time. If we hadn't cut these bushes in front you would not have seen the water on the other side. So we are cutting the bush and in cutting them we have discovered major amounts of garbage in the area." The bushy area was apparently a secret dumping ground as several bags of garbage were discovered there. The current contract for the cleaning of the waterfront area is being overseen by the Public Works Department.
"This is something that we thought was very urgent so we are going to get it done right away," Mr. Vanterpool said.
Meanwhile, the 4th District representative said he could not say when the island-wide campaign would kick into full gear with all the volunteers but noted that the Minister for Health and Social Development is pushing to have it done before the Christmas season starts. "We have a number of volunteer groups but welcome more volunteers. The Road Town group will start work from Slaney to the town but in the meantime we are getting this moving and as you can see it is major job here and we are going to make sure it happens."
The Minister had said on NDP Radio last evening November 21, 2011 that Government, through the assistance of volunteer groups from various districts, would soon be embarking on an island-wide clean-up campaign that would see the removal of derelict vehicles a major part of the exercise. Hon.r Vanterpool was at the time responding to a caller, who had enquired about the removal of derelict vehicles around the island. The caller wanted to know when Government was to deal with the problem.
“I know that the Honourable Minister responsible for Health, under which solid waste comes, is planning an island-wide clean-up... I believe we will reveal it very shortly within a week or so where they are going to begin a total clean-up of the country including derelict vehicles’ removal.”
The Works Minister further stated that the process of serving notice to persons for their derelict vehicles to be removed “will begin with the solid waste group as you know within the legal boundaries”.
It was also said that a number of volunteers are planning to assist in the island-wide clean-up campaign including groups in Road Town and Look Look and in the 5th District.
Since the enforcement of the Derelict Vehicles (Disposal) Act in 2003, the department has removed thousands of abandoned vehicles from the Territory’s roadsides, however, there remains a number of derelict vehicles yet to be removed in various parts of the island. Under the Act, the Solid Waste Department is empowered to dispose of abandoned vehicles after alerting owners by posting a notice on the vehicle.
The Derelict Vehicles (Disposal) Act was established to promote a healthy environment within the Virgin Islands and to reduce the risk of vehicular accidents. Once the vehicles have been processed at the storage site they are shipped to a steel mill for recycling purposes.
Meanwhile, the last major clean-up exercise was done in November last year and was dubbed the 2010 Clean Sweep, BVI You’re Beautiful campaign, which was spearheaded by the British Virgin Islands Tourist Board in conjunction with the Premier’s Office, the Departments of Conservation and Fisheries, Solid Waste, Environmental Health and Public Works.
Some of the areas cleaned included Road Town, the Ridge Road, Cane Garden Bay, Brewers Bay, Sea Cows Bay, West End, Parham Town, Mount Healthy, Trellis Bay, East End, Jost Van Dyke, Anegada and Virgin Gorda.
Many volunteers and sponsors participated in this campaign which saw more than 300 bags of trash and debris collected and over 10 miles of coast cleaned.
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