Phase One of JCD Desilting Project Commences

Phase One of JCD Desilting Project Commences

The start of de-silting works at the John Compton Dam has been a long time coming, but it wasn’t until the symbolic Ground Breaking Ceremony held recently that members of the public caught a glimpse of some real progress being made in that regard. At the ceremony, Chairman Francis Denbow took the opportunity to provide insight as to how the current board of Wasco and management and the sole shareholder government had arrived at this present juncture.

The board had taken up duties in early August 2016 and in the words of Mr. Denbow “eventually saw the tail end result of the second unsuccessful bid offer package proposal conceptualized to desilt the dam.” He noted that prior to the advent of the present board there had been two unsuccessful bid attempts to procure contractors to desilt the dam which was almost two-thirds filled with silt. This meant that the topic of desilting had been in the public domain for almost eight years.

“The present board reviewed the project in detail and took into consideration that there was already an approved CDB facility for a loan of us $14.789 million to desilt the dam with security being a government guarantee for a similar amount,” he said. “The present government also realised at the time that this proposed guarantee would create a contingent liability and thus a charge on the Consolidated Fund and would affect and increase their overall debt to GDP ratios. So in March of 2017, government made a decision that Wasco should approach the CDB to pursue discussions on the possibility of direct lending to Wasco without a government guarantee.”

According to Mr. Denbow, in the interim, Wasco’s board and management met with the consultant engineers Golder and Associates from Canada and re-examined the scope of the project and related costs. The same engineering option to desilt the dam that was originally recommended by the US Corps of Engineers was adopted. This option called for the removal of 1.5 million cubic meters of sediments with an electrical or diesel modified and powered suction dredge. Initial dredging would first daylight the lower water abstraction port at the back of the spillway that is currently blocked with silt and then subsequently move the dredge to the rear of the reservoir to remove beached sediment. Dredging of residual sediment would then continue and be maintained over the following years from the Wasco owned dredge.

Wasco could only now extract water from an upper port described as “vulnerable” which could become covered with silt in the event of another major hurricane, or if water levels in the reservoir dropped below that port if a drought occurred.

“So one can understand the importance of urgently desilting the dam to negate those possibilities and to overcome difficulties that would ensure the abstraction of water from the dam is absolutely not compromised,” the Chairman noted, before going into detail about the other intricate components of the project. He also spoke about the existing 10.43 percent dredging fee included in monthly bills to consumers, which would be used to repay the loan commitments with the CDB for the project, which was now being looked at as a two part undertaking. The first component called JCD01 includes the preparation and construction of the sediment disposal area and building and repairing of access roads thereto at the site. Notably, this phase was tendered only to local contractors. The second component called JCD02 includes dredging of the reservoir and installation of pipes to the sediment disposal area downstream. The second phase will be tendered to international bidders who are qualified and experienced dredgers.

“After a detailed review of the available options we costed both aspects of the project and re-applied to the CDB for a total loan package of US$10.167 million. I am pleased to report that in record time and within two weeks of submission in December last year CDB approved the facility without a government guarantee. Grant funding had also been approved.

Wasco’s Chairman thanked the CDB for demonstrating confidence in the company by way of providing “a virtually unsecured loan.”

As it related to the bidding process, Mega Contracting, owned by Saint Lucian national Ned Samuel, had been contracted to construct and prepare the sediment disposal area. The total cost of the sediment disposal area is EC$17.9 million VAT exclusive. For the dredging process, a bidder had also been identified, with negotiations still underway.

At the current volume of 1.5 cubic meters of sediment in the dam and an annual extraction rate of 150,000 cubic meters a year, the Chairman echoed the words of Wasco’s General Manager Edmund Regis that it would take approximately 10 years to fully desilt the dam. He thanked Saint Lucians for their patience throughout the years. Minister Hon. Ezechiel Joseph, and Prime Minister Hon. Allen Chastanet also spoke at the event, reiterating their commitment to supporting Wasco throughout the duration of the de-silting project.