With less than two weeks to go before the official start of the 2006 Atlantic Hurricane Season, crews from the Ministry of Works are hoping to conclude the cleanup campaign in the hard-hit areas of Grand Bahama as a result of the last season, according to Bradford Wildgoose, the officer in charge of the ministry on the island.
Mr. Wildgoose, who was speaking at a town meeting held recently at the St. Vincent de Paul Church in Hunters, also explained that plans are in the works for the closure of cemeteries.
“The closure for the cleanup campaign is still an ongoing process and the Ministry of Works is coming to a conclusion just as to when and how we are going to close,” Mr. Wildgoose said.
“As far as the seawalls and cemeteries are concerned, scope of works has been made andﾅcontract proposals have been submitted and we are now deliberating and waiting on an answer from the ministry. They are working on getting us those answers in short order.”
Mr. Wildgoose also said he was hoping that work would be completed to the cemeteries at the same time a new cemetery is built.
In an earlier interview with The Bahama Journal, Administrator for West Grand Bahama Charles King confirmed that the Department of Environmental Health and the Ministry of Works were “working expeditiously” to bring full closure to the badly-damaged public cemetery in Eight Mile Rock and Pinderﾒs Point.
However, Mr. King said there were no open graves, and no access to any coffins in the cemeteries.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma, 54 coffins were unearthed from the public cemeteries in Pinderﾒs Point and Martin Town.
Skeletal remains were also exposed and had to be recommitted, causing Prime Minister Perry Christie to declare that no new cemeteries would be built near the sea.
The plan is to build a proper wall around the cemetery and clear away the rubble and rocks, according to Mr. King.
Meanwhile, Mr. Wildgoose said that repairs to the roads damaged during Hurricane Wilma were still ongoing and he asked that residents continue to be patient with the process.
“Road works are still ongoing in eastern Grand Bahama and also in the west. New roads in the Eight Mile Rock, Lewis Yard, Pinderﾒs Point, and road repairs in Smithﾒs Point, and Williams Town have all now been considered and in short order, we should be commencing those additional projects,” Mr. Wildgoose said.
By: Courtnee Romer, The Bahama Journal
