Tweet
about?
It seems like everybody did ah "eat ah food".
Notice the last paragraph where people fraid fi dem life???
Shameful waste!
Mismanagement forces IDB to cancel bulk of US$11-m loan to upgrade dumps
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
THE Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) cancelled the bulk of a US$11-million loan to Jamaica in January 2007 after it uncovered waste, mismanagement and incompetence in the implementation of a programme to improve conditions at Riverton City and other landfills around the country.
According to Diana McCaulay, chief executive officer of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) and one Jamaica’s foremost environmental advocates, the IDB observed in its final report that the implementation of the project was "very unsatisfactory" and failed to meet its "development objective".
McCaulay made the revelation in an article she sent to the Observer yesterday as the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management continued efforts extinguish a fire at the Riverton City landfill that has created a smoke hazard in Kingston and St Catherine for more than a week now.
McCaulay said that the development of an action plan for a modern solid waste management programme for Jamaica was one of the expected outcomes of the loan agreement signed in September 1999.
"The broad objectives were to upgrade Riverton and establish a proper legal and institutional regulatory system for solid waste," she added. "There was also to be the preparation of an islandwide programme for waste minimisation, collection and disposal.
"The loan was for US$11.5 million, with the total cost of the project being US$16.5 million. The project was to be carried out over a four-year period. This was extended for three more years and the project was finally closed in January 2007," said McCaulay.
"Only US$3.82 million had been disbursed and the bank cancelled US$7.68 million," she added.
McCaulay said that she learnt of the loan cancellation in December 2009 when the JET was invited by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) to attend a stakeholder consultation to discuss a new Integrated Waste Management Strategy and Action Plan, prepared for the IDB by Environmental and Engineering Managers Ltd.
"I sought and received a copy of the report beforehand, along with the IDB’s 2007 completion report," she said. "Both reports contained the most appalling account of mismanagement, waste, incompetence and probably corruption, although the last word was never mentioned."
She said that she went to the meeting and spoke about the stupidity of walking down the same road again without a full investigation into the reasons for the many failures. She also wrote a three-page letter to the PIOJ detailing the deficiencies of the Strategy and Action Plan.
"Apart from an acknowledgement, I got no further response," McCaulay said.
"When I demanded explanations at the stakeholder meeting, one young man told me, ‘Ms McCaulay, no one is going to tell you anything; we are afraid for our jobs and our lives’," she said.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Shameful-waste-#ixzz1mSL32CCg
It seems like everybody did ah "eat ah food".
Notice the last paragraph where people fraid fi dem life???
Shameful waste!
Mismanagement forces IDB to cancel bulk of US$11-m loan to upgrade dumps
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
THE Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) cancelled the bulk of a US$11-million loan to Jamaica in January 2007 after it uncovered waste, mismanagement and incompetence in the implementation of a programme to improve conditions at Riverton City and other landfills around the country.
According to Diana McCaulay, chief executive officer of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) and one Jamaica’s foremost environmental advocates, the IDB observed in its final report that the implementation of the project was "very unsatisfactory" and failed to meet its "development objective".
McCaulay made the revelation in an article she sent to the Observer yesterday as the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management continued efforts extinguish a fire at the Riverton City landfill that has created a smoke hazard in Kingston and St Catherine for more than a week now.
McCaulay said that the development of an action plan for a modern solid waste management programme for Jamaica was one of the expected outcomes of the loan agreement signed in September 1999.
"The broad objectives were to upgrade Riverton and establish a proper legal and institutional regulatory system for solid waste," she added. "There was also to be the preparation of an islandwide programme for waste minimisation, collection and disposal.
"The loan was for US$11.5 million, with the total cost of the project being US$16.5 million. The project was to be carried out over a four-year period. This was extended for three more years and the project was finally closed in January 2007," said McCaulay.
"Only US$3.82 million had been disbursed and the bank cancelled US$7.68 million," she added.
McCaulay said that she learnt of the loan cancellation in December 2009 when the JET was invited by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) to attend a stakeholder consultation to discuss a new Integrated Waste Management Strategy and Action Plan, prepared for the IDB by Environmental and Engineering Managers Ltd.
"I sought and received a copy of the report beforehand, along with the IDB’s 2007 completion report," she said. "Both reports contained the most appalling account of mismanagement, waste, incompetence and probably corruption, although the last word was never mentioned."
She said that she went to the meeting and spoke about the stupidity of walking down the same road again without a full investigation into the reasons for the many failures. She also wrote a three-page letter to the PIOJ detailing the deficiencies of the Strategy and Action Plan.
"Apart from an acknowledgement, I got no further response," McCaulay said.
"When I demanded explanations at the stakeholder meeting, one young man told me, ‘Ms McCaulay, no one is going to tell you anything; we are afraid for our jobs and our lives’," she said.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Shameful-waste-#ixzz1mSL32CCg
Comment