St Lucy plant to close for maintenance

The Arawak Cement plant is to be closed for a month from February 1, so that officials can install a special filter that would help to reduce the dust currently affecting residents in the area.

Additionally, officials here will be reaching out to international public health agency – the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), to conduct a study on the impact of the plant’s operations on air quality, among other areas.

However, with this coming just weeks after complaints, meetings and threats of a possible protest by residents, one Alliance Party for Progress (APP) representative is crying shame on the Mia Mottley government for ignoring the problem while suggesting that recent meetings with management of the company only took place because of the upcoming January 19 general election.

A meeting was held on Tuesday between company officials, Barbados Labour Party candidate for the area Peter Phillips, Attorney General Dale Marshall, Minister of Environment Adrian Forde and Melony James, a lead representative for affected residents.

Phillips told Barbados TODAY the meeting was cordial and all parties agreed that as part of the solution a new study should be conducted to help determine the approach going forward.

However, pointing to the immediate mitigation measure, Phillips said Arawak management agreed to close the plant for one month so that a specialist could install the special filter bags that were needed to minimise the dust problem.

“For one month the plant will be closed down for that maintenance. That should eliminate [the dust], not totally, but to some extent. The idea is to minimise that problem as much as possible. Once the plant is closed down for that maintenance on February 1 for one month we will then monitor and see what the results are,” said Phillips.

“So the meeting is the first thing we have been able to achieve – getting the company to come to the table to hear the views and how the residents overall, those in the immediate vicinity and those in the vicinity of a five kilometre radius are affected. It was a very cordial meeting and all parties shared their views,” he said.

He indicated that other measures are to be put in place over the coming months.

After weeks of complaints about the dust, residents, led by James, threatened to protest if steps were not taken to fix the problem. The protest has since been called off.

Phillips, who is hoping to retain his seat as Member of Parliament for the constituency in the January 19 general election, said he would be pushing for a new study to be conducted by PAHO.

A previous study was done more than 12 years ago but was not made public. Phillips said that study was now “quite dated” and may not suit today’s environment.

“Once you get that piece of equipment installed that we are told would greatly minimise the emissions, there will be a monitoring period. In addition to that there will be a study commissioned by PAHO that would test the air quality and such like in the immediate vicinity,” said Phillips.

“We have determined that a new study would be commissioned by PAHO, the persons who are in the best position to conduct this study, and then we move from there,” he said, adding that this new study should be made public.

Stating that the company promised to keep the line of communication open with the residents, Phillips said “We would expect that over time whenever there is something that is going to adversely affect the residents that they will so be told.”

Reacting to the development, APP candidate for the parish Wayne Griffith suggested that had the election bell not rung, affected residents would still be ignored, as he recalled that the issue was one that has been ongoing for years.

“After several years of complaints from the residents who live in proximity of the Arawak Cement plant in Checker Hall, St Lucy it took a general election for the Prime Minister to finally assemble a team and visit the plant to find a solution,” said Griffith.

“This is symbolic of the type of reactionary governance plaguing our country. Similarly, it took this general election for repair work to commence on homes in St Lucy which were damaged by the storms in 2021. The promise of quick action by the government has been broken. St Lucy is disrespected and deserves better representation,” he added.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mia Mottley, accompanied by Phillips and General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union Toni Moore, visited residents in the area surrounding the plant. They also held discussions with the management of the company.

A meeting with the middle management of the company was also held last week. (MM)