A study commissioned on the environmental issues surrounding the Goat Islands by the Port Authority of Jamaica is slated to be completed at the end of September. Transport, Works and Housing Minister Dr. Omar Davies revealed this during a press conference at Jamaica House on September 11 2013. Even that is carefully vague. One might reasonably assume that the ‘study on environmental issues’ means study on environmental issues arising from a particular currently proposed developmental project but that is not exactly what it says. If that is, in fact, what it means, then such a study could only be commissioned and done if exact details on what is going to be built out there has been given to the people who are carrying out the study. So somebody knows. Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps a study on environmental issues surrounding Goat islands is just to examine the present environment around the cays. Not connected to the future at all. After all, Dr. Conrad Douglas BSc., Ph.D., M.J.I.E.,M.J.I.M., the head of the firm selected to prepare the E.I A., and brother of Easton Douglas, is eminently well connected politically. He might be at a loose end and the idea is to give him a two week well paid break splashing around in Old Harbor Bay and counting mosquitoes. Times is hard and work scarce. One week from now is the end of September. If Run Wid it is accurate then we should soon know if the study was just dedicated to establishing if the beach there is still O.K as a crab and sand fly haven and the surrounding waters are still fish-free as the efforts of the Old Harbour fishermen to keep them that way can make them or if it contemplates the building of a transshipment facility by sinister Orientals. But, just a moment, - you can’t take even the wording regarding time of that press release for granted. September – yes. But which one? Run Wid it may return to say that the study is slated for completion in September 2015 and that the study will show exactly what the (by then completed) new port has done to Old Harbor Bay and the environmental issues surrounding Goat Islands. Studies of the past are much more accurate and safer for the reputations of the contracted studiers. That is the kind of fairy tale land in which we live, Andrew, and no matter how much glucose you sprinkle on it it is not so sweet. Just hidden under sugar coating as long as possible. Give the populace a lick of something nice till its time to give them the real lick. So what Jamaica needs are facts. Actual, real details on the project - but accuracy is not the realm of our political leaders. So don’t hold your breath - unless you can live for years without oxygen. T
Posted on: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 14:19:55 +0000