Race on to rid island of volcanic dust

Government’s national clean-up campaign to remove volcanic ash from public areas across Barbados is progressing speedily with several public buildings dusted, cleaned and ready for business this week.

However, Minister of Housing and Lands Dr William Duguid, who is also the national coordinator of the clean-up mission, said he was concerned that if the ash is not collected fast enough, it could wreak havoc on the country’s drainage system.

“The more ash that we can collect, the better that it would protect our drainage system. If we leave this ash and then it gets into the drains, then we would have a much bigger problem with flooding down the road.

“I know that there was rain in some areas this morning and I am concerned that too much ash gets into the drains. So we are trying to collect as much as we can before the rains come and wash it into the drains, which is my biggest concern right now,” Dr Duguid said during an interview with Barbados TODAY.

Dr Duguid said the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA), and the sea port, have been reopened and indicated that the Government was now working on plans and programmes to facilitate the cleaning of other areas.

With the objective to clean a significant number of government buildings for re-opening, Minister Duguid announced that the Warrens Tower 2, Baobab Towers, Warrens Office Complex, Government Headquarters, E Humphrey Walcott and the Frank Walcott buildings were re-opened today.

He said while the Weymouth Corporate Centre re-opened last week, the Supreme Court Complex has also been cleaned and will re-open to the public from Tuesday.

“The NHC [National Housing Corporation] building is giving us some challenges with the air-condition but we have got those finalized now and resolved and we are just going through the final cleaning of the interior of the building and then that will be opened.

“We are now developing our second list of second-tier priority buildings and we will start working on those as a matter of urgency. From there we will then move to the community centres and the resource centres and then, in parallel, the National Housing Corporation estates working on the roads and the drains and all the other community areas that we need to maintain for our people,” he said.

The minister indicated that clean-up work on the roads has also been progressing well and announced that an additional 1200 people will be joining the team to assist with cleaning intermediate and minor roads.

He added: “The National Housing Corporation had about 70 persons working. We have another 100-odd to bring on and we are still in the process of working through the people for the Ministry of Transport Works and Maintenance.”

The ash covered the island a week ago following the eruption of the La Soufriere volcano in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
(anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb)