"Pack up & leave" - Cromwell Smith to BiWater
Speaking on his radio programme ‘Umoja” last evening, March 15, 2012, Cromwell Smith started off his remarks by saying, “I don’t want to say I told you so”.
BiWater had signed a Build, Own, Operate, Transfer (BOOT) contract with the then Virgin Islands Party (VIP) government on February 18, 2010 for a sea-water desalination plant.
However, Smith pointed out that two years and six week later “we ain’t got one drip of water from this company and sewerage still in the streets”.
He declared that when the VIP had announced its agreement with the United Kingdom company, several public spirited persons including himself begged the [VIP] Government to leave BiWater alone.
“...they had a track record all over the world with financial problems, selling off their assets, banks want their money...I didn’t know what else we could have said to point out that this company was going to be a fiasco in the BVI. We marched, we went on every talk show, we pleaded, we begged, show other proposals, talked to politicians, stroked their heads, and rubbed their backs. I don’t know what else could have been done,” the talk show host stated.
Smith said he had in his possession evidence of Biwater’s performances from the World Court Tribunal and showed it to the politicians – yet they went ahead with BiWater.
“And these people know that they don’t have any water at Paraquita Bay. Ocean Conversion had a study done years ago, spent thousands of dollars and tell them that they don’t have any water at Paraquita Bay much less 2.3 gallons per day. Them still got a company from Puerto Rico to come and look for water at Paraquita Bay, what are we going to do with these people?” the outspoken talk show host asked.
“What is happening to our leaders, who are they listening to? Who have their ears, to twist their minds and reasoning? They went looking for water at Brandywine Bay, East End aint got no water. We know where the water is...water up Bar Bay. Listen we would have already have water in every pipe from September last year. That sewerage thing would have already have been fixed from last September. We don’t have a water problem, we pointed that out. We have an infrastructure problem. The Water and Sewerage Department said we were losing 40 percent of the water we produce. That was a Government problem...Ocean Conversion was not responsible for the infrastructure, they took everything and blame OC. I remember the Minister for Communications and Works [Julian Fraser] saying OC was the worst thing on the face of the earth, ripping off the people and the water was the worst. But he didn’t tell the people that he was responsible for the water quality and for the pipes,” Smith charged.
So now that BiWater appears to be in a dilemma with no water source, Smith opined, “it wants to go through the pond bush to look for water way out in the ocean.”
He believes such an operation would have an impact on the reefs and mangroves and would affect the consumers. “Do you know how much money that would cost to convert that water into drinking water? And guess what we will be paying the electricity...they say they will get water by September 2012, I guess they mean September 2013!”
In light of this latest situation, the talk show host declared that BiWater is a fiasco.
“We don’t have to go nowhere to look for the fiasco. The fiasco is here with BiWater. With their own actions and behaviours they are a fiasco. The solution is for the company to admit it can’t produce the water at the price what they say, it is going cost the consumers too much money to pay for that water they are going to bring from outside of Paraquita Bay. They need to pack up their stuff and get on the barge and head back to the UK. We will give them something for the work what they have already done thus far. We will get our company that has an abundance of water. OC can produce the water, upgrade the plant, fix the infrastructure. We have the money, Government don’t have to have no money, there don’t have to be no contingent liability, OC can do it for a fraction of what BiWater is charging us to do it for. All that needs to be done is to give OC a similar time to get back their money they invested,” Smith charged.
And his advice for BiWater’s head, Adrian White, is to quit while he’s ahead. “Cut your losses.”
Virgin Islands News Online will seek to get a comment from Biwater officials on this matter.
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