Big Bucks Invade The Bay

BIG BUCKS INVADE THE BAY Investigation by Mark Meredith Trinidad Express

Mark Meredith The desolate landscape pictured above is Invaders Bay. This is where Sir Ralph Abercromby’s British forces landed before taking Port of Spain for the Crown in 1797. A few weeks ago this historic area of state land was a mangrove ecosystem. It isn’t any more. A new invasion force has landed at Invaders Bay — the dredging contractors Westminster Dredging, a subsidiary of Dutch company Royal Boskalis Westminster. Awarded a contract worth $72 million, they are dredging the port’s harbour while the land is being prepared for reclamation. It is part of the Government’s ‘$100 million’ Port of Spain Waterfront/Expansion Plan which, it is estimated, will take 10 to15 years to complete. There is talk of a $200 million conference centre, cultural villages, marinas, a multiplex cinema, housing developments, even a beach.

According to Haven Allahar, CEO of the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT), who will manage the project when reclamation is complete, the development will eventually stretch from Cocorite in the west to the Barataria roundabout in the east. But the development plans have outraged environmental groups. Critics, like the Council of Presidents of the Environment (COPE) — the presidents of 14 environmental NGO’s — and Fisherman and Friends of the Sea, called the plans ‘savage’, saying the project flies in the face of established legal and environmental procedures and stated Government policy. They are concerned that work has started on the project without approval from the Town and Country Planning Division. That key aspects of the 1998 Environmental Impact Assessment report (EIA) — mangrove restoration — have been ignored. That the scope of work for which the EIA was originally carried out has changed beyond recognition. Also, that no new EIA has been prepared to take these changes into account. That the destruction and non-restoration of the mangroves is in direct contravention of the Government’s own National Environmental Policy of Trinidad and Tobago. COPE also expressed concern at the stability of the foreshore, possible ocean surges over an area with shallow water creating a ‘tsunami’ effect, and rising sea levels through global warming. Reclamation will be 3.5 meters above sea level. In a letter to Colin Lucas, the General Manager of the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (PATT), Gopaul Chackan, President of COPE, said: ‘Mangrove restoration is critical to the stability of the area and coastline. Mangrove protects the coastline, absorbs pollution, offers income, protects the livelihood of fisher folk and protects crucial wetland linkages for our rich biodiversity’. COPE are demanding the restoration of the mangrove ecosystems in line with the National Environmental Policy. This states that ‘the Government will pursue a policy in its developmental projects of no net loss of wetlands’. The document also states the Government will: ‘ . . . institute mechanisms for the restoration of dredged wetlands . . . discourage dredging, filling and other forms of development in wetland areas’. At a consultative meeting held by PATT in April this year, the destruction of mangrove forest was termed ‘an unavoidable consequence of the development’.

PATT said there would be no restoration of mangroves, despite the EIA devoting an entire chapter to the subject. However, when questioned this week, Chris Mendez, Deputy General Manager of PATT, said ‘he would recommend restoration to his board’. Mangroves may not be as exciting as conference centres and cinemas, but they are just as important, argue environmental groups. COPE say they support the port wanting to maximise its commercial potential, and they have no problem with development per se. It is how development is done, and how it impacts on our limited natural resources. How has this development been done? The story is as cloudy as the water in today’s Invaders Bay. What started as a project for deepening Port of Spain’s harbour has been transformed into a development plan to rival the smartest of city waterfronts. PATT say their need to attract larger vessels to the port is essential. The port was built 60 years ago with a clearance of 9.75 metres which, according to PATT, is not sufficient to berth larger container ships; these bypass Trinidad for deeper anchorages. It was decided the port would be dredged to a depth of 12 metres. To do this meant the removal of 2.2 million cubic metres of seabed, or ‘dredge spoil’. This could either be dumped at sea, on land, or both. The EIA for the proposed port expansion, including the reclamation of Invaders Bay for increased container storage, was prepared by Eco Engineering in 1998. Among its recommendations was the dumping of the dredge spoil at approved sea sites, an option originally favoured by PATT as it is more economic than on-shore disposal. Then, approximately a year ago, a Government-appointed West Coast Committee was formed to activate and implement a plan for the development of the entire west coast. The new Port of Spain Waterfront Plan was born. It was after this, say COPE, that the scope of work for which the Port Authority’s EIA was done, changed. From harbour extension to city extension. No new EIA has been done to take into account the ambitious new Waterfront Plan. The port’s plan of dredge spoil dumping at sea was shelved in favour of an ‘arrangement with the West Coast Committee’s West Coast Plan,’ said PATT.

Invaders Bay up to the east bank of the Maraval River would be reclaimed, some of which would be set aside for the port’s use. Dredge spoil and quarry fill would be used for reclamation which would be enclosed by a bund. The bund will not have a silt screen. The remaining land at Invaders Bay would be at the disposal of UDeCOTT, who will take over when the area is reclaimed. Earlier this year, Housing Minister John Humphrey ordered the transfer of 28 hectares of land at Invaders Bay to UDeCOTT ‘at no cost’. Haven Allahar of UDeCOTT said all reclaimed land would eventually be owned by a ‘separate company’ made up, he hoped, of developers. There is a contradiction, though. The prepared West Coast Plan stretches from Cocorite to Barataria, yet Haven Allahar said no development would take place west of Invaders Bay, beyond the Maraval River. That would remain public land, he said. Housing Minister John Humphrey launched the dredging phase of the development two weeks ago, calling it ‘the beginning of a whole new peninsular that is going to be used for commercial, recreational, entertainment and housing purposes’. He said: ‘In the near future Trinidad is going to expand and change into the new world. This has already begun’. But the huge project has begun without approval from the Town and Country Planning Division (TCPD), which is a department within Mr Humphrey’s Ministry of Housing and Settlements. Outline approval was sought and granted on 20th October 1998, subject to various conditions being addressed. Among these conditions, and implicit in the EIA which has an entire chapter on the subject, was the restoration of mangrove, the primary demand of environmental groups. To check if formal approval for a development has been given, you look in the Town and Country Planning Division (TCPD) register where it is recorded. There is no entry in the register for approval for the West Coast Plan or the reclamation of Invaders Bay. Information obtained by the Express confirms that final approval was denied as the conditionalities required in the outline approval had not been addressed. However, PATT’s Chris Mendez, when asked why the project had started without approval from the TCPD, said, ‘we have an approval’. But he would not say who gave the approval, nor would he confirm it was from the TCPD.

Until the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) is empowered by the appointment of the Environmental Commission, it cannot give certificates of clearance to developmental projects through the EMA Act. Until then, all approvals reside with the TCPD under the Town and Country Planning Act. Current legislation allows their decisions to be overridden by the Minister of Housing and Settlements. If you ever wondered what Invaders Bay may have looked like to Sir Ralph Abercromby and his men, you are two weeks too late.