Not enough sand for a construction boom, officials fear

Concern is mounting among officials that the building sand supply could soon reachcritically low levels if urgent steps are not taken to provide a buffer.

With major activities in the construction industry expected in a matter of weeks as more than a dozen projects either get started or be ramped up, and with the threat of the deadly COVID-19, the island’s sand supply is said to be at risk.

Minister of Foreign Trade Sandra Husbands said today Government is seeking to urgently put measures in place so that businesses could secure the product from Caribbean Community neighbour Suriname, which is said to have it in abundance.

Husbands was addressing a special meeting at the ministry on Culloden Road where some firms had the opportunity to meet officials from the Surinamese government-operated mining company, Grassalco, to begin to form linkages.

Husbands did not say how low the supply of sand and crushed stone is, but Barbados TODAY investigations revealed that while the island has enough supply to last about another year if construction levels remained the same, it could quickly run out within weeks if the expected construction boom begins.

Barbados TODAY has learned that the demand for the building materials was low over the past two years due to a subdued construction industry, but with the number of projects to come on stream, coupled with expected disruption in global trade as a result of the COVID-19, the country could face a disastrous shortage.

But with an existing trade agreement between Bridgetown and Paramaribo, the country could be spared the worse, Husbands assured, pointing out that under the agreement, a number of initiatives have been developed “to help deepen the engagement between Suriname and Barbados”, with mining and agriculture at the top of the list.

It was in November 2018 that Prime Minister Mia Mottley and her Surinamese counterpart President Dési Bouterse signed the Brokopondo Programme for Co-operation 2018-2021, aimed at strengthening relations between the two countries.

Husbands said: “The area that is of particular interest to Barbados would be the area of your granite and the sand that I believe is so abundant in Suriname”.

“The promotion of the trade and building materials is important for Barbados at this time, and this is because a part of the Barbados growth strategy is to use construction as one of the ways to generate jobs and generate economic activity in Barbados.”

Husbands pointed to a number of tourism-related construction projects due to get off the ground this year.

She said: “One of the challenges that Barbados has in seeking to build out that industry is that we have a shortage of domestic sand, and because our supplies are now going to be exhausted it was imperative that Barbados found alternative supplies and therefore this is going to be important.”

The foreign trade minister then jokingly said to the Surinamese delegation: “Later on we will talk about water because we have a shortage of that and we might need that from you as well.”

Saying she expected the quickly spreading COVID-19 to complicate trade relations globally, she said Government would soon be releasing its contingency plans.

Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Port Inc. David Jean-Marie recently announced that a part of the major overhaul of the Bridgetown Port would be to reclaim land “in the Bridgetown area” in an effort to “accommodate aggregate storage”.

He said: “As you are aware the sand reserves of the country have been depleted and we need to have more sand aggregate imported into the country, and once we start leasing out the area for the flour mill, as we have been doing for boat haul facility and natural gas facility, we will not have anyplace to store aggregates, which is boulders and so on, that is being imported in the country.”

Grassalco’s Deputy Director of Operations and Technical Glenn Gemerts insisted that Suriname had an abundance of sand to help provide a buffer to the Barbados construction industry.

“What we are looking for is partnerships. Suriname really has an abundance of availability of the white sand… so there is a potential of the white sand and the quality is quite good,” he said, as he stressed the need for long-term arrangements with local companies.

Barbados and Suriname does not currently have a direct cargo shipment link in place, something Gemerts said he was also hoping could be developed soon.

Transport of people and goods from Suriname to Barbados now has to go through Trinidad or another destination, and cargo can take up to three days to arrive.

Government is also hoping to have a direct air services agreement in place soon that would allow for a direct air link between Bridgetown and the South American country.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb