Wastage in T&T seems to be a practice which citizens, and by extension governments, seem all too willing to engage in all while overlooking its ramifications. From the loss of our now scarce water resources through leaks which the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) cannot seem to bring under control, to everyday wastage in our homes, citizens appear comfortable with allowing things they can control to instead be lost for good. That is, of course, until they realise the value of the item or resource.
This is why we are pained at Public Utilities Minister Robert Le Hunte’s statement that the near $1 billion spent so far on the unfinished Beetham Wastewater Recycling Plant may go to naught because Government does not intend to complete the project, which Mr Le Hunte says was ill-conceived. The minister made the announcement at the Savonetta Booster Pump Station commissioning on Friday, as he revealed US$250 million would be needed to complete the plant. Giving details, Minister Le Hunte said it would cost taxpayers $3 billion to complete the plant while it will provide just ten million more gallons of water capacity per day—unfeasible given the country’s current economic struggles. Government also believes it can currently provide the same ten million gallons of water daily with an expenditure of $200 million via projects now being considered for WASA to increase water production.
To put this into further context, Minister Le Hunte is also on record as saying WASA needs $12.7 billion to fix major issues affecting its water supply and distribution. It will cost $10 billion to replace 7,200 kilometres of ageing pipelines, $1.2 billion to install water meters at homes, businesses and industrial areas, $1 billion to fix interconnectivity issues and $500 million to improve its water storage capacity. So on a first look, it would appear the Government can neither afford the $2 billion more to complete the Beetham waste water project nor the $12.7 billion to completely fix all WASA’s woes. Hidden inside Minister Le Hunte’s breakdown of WASA’s issues is the fact that it would cost $500 million to fix the storage capacity aspect of its operations, a vital element in times like now when the country is thirsting for potable water.
Having said that, is it not possible to salvage the Beetham project by converting it into a water storage facility? Surely, more storage tanks can be added to the existing ones on the project with the ultimate intention of servicing the capital with water in the first instance. We calculate this would be less than the $500 million needed to fix the cheapest aspect of WASA’s woes.
So moving forward, while the final outcome of the lawsuit against the project contractor is pending, we hope the facility will be salvaged for citizens’ benefit instead of it being allowed to rot away.