FRASER SHOCKED
BVI News Staff - Monday, February 27th, 2012 at 7:47 AM
Julian Fraser
Third district Representative and former Communications and Works Minister Julian Fraser has described as shocking recent statements made by current Communications and Works Minister Mark Vanterpool about the status of the Baugher’s Bay Water Desalination Plant.
Speaking on NDP Radio last week, Vanterpool said the plant is only producing about 6 to 700,000 gallons of water a day, down from more than one million a day. He was responding to a caller who said he lives at Baugher’s Bay and he is not getting water from the plant at nights.
Responding to the criticisms Fraser said: “When I heard the minister’s comments on the news I was quite shocked and concerned, that coming up on the second anniversary of the date, which was March 13, when the plant was handed over to government and the days and months following immediately where the territory, particularly the metropolitan Road Town area, suffered drastically from water shortage and sometimes no water because the plant was in such a state of disrepair and many days non-functional , you know when we got the plant it was in a shut down mode.”
Fraser said before he left office the plant was producing the required amount of water a day.
He explained: “ I am here to say it is a shock to me because before I left office on coming up on the first Anniversary which was March 13th, 2011, the statistics will show that the plant was producing 1, 131,000 US gallons of water per day, and that is quite adequate to supply all the people in the area that are relying on that plant. We spent in the neighborhood of $2 million to refurbish that plant and bring it back to good working condition.
“I think what is happening the plant is not getting the kind of attention and priority it deserves. When I was there up until a few months before I left, I paid attention to that plant. Specifically, I had the authority and the mandate from cabinet to make sure that the plant works at whatever cost, whatever necessary I had to do it. And before I left I turned over responsibility to Mr. Ray George who was working at the Ministry. What it means is that, the person in that capacity like the general manager has to monitor the plant around the clock almost. I did it remotely, he did it remotely. You have to check for the membrane pressure. If the membrane pressure goes up – you know the membranes need to be cleaned – the quality of the water goes down.
Baughers Bay plant.
“You have to check for the suction pressure; if the suction pressure is down it means that one of the wells or two of the wells are not functioning and you need to be in a position to make phone calls or direct that these things get addressed. Even myself and Mr. George would have been able to call the company here on Tortola, which is Aqua Design, and direct them to go and look at the plant and the stats that he had in place that were quite adequate and capable of doing much of the maintenance work. He will make sure that they did it or if the people from the (United) States had to come you will call them and tell them to come. I think it’s simply a matter of proper care and attention not being paid to the plant at the highest level.”
Fraser called Minister Mark Vanterpool to ensure that the plant gets the attention it needs.
“Absolutely, the minister has to get involved and make sure he has an individual who has the authority and pays the kind of attention that’s necessary to monitor. The plant has to be monitored and it can be done remotely. I did it remotely, Mr. George did it remotely. You just check to see on a daily basis whether the membrane pressures are appropriate, whether the suction pressures are appropriate. The conductivity is important because that’s the water quality and if those things change in any significant way, you know exactly when you must make a call to make sure that something has to be adjusted. If you don’t do that, it just constantly runs down and down and down. The plant was producing more than a million gallons of water a day, and it’s not doing that; it means that one of those three things or a combination of all three things have gone wrong and it can be adjusted and fix,” Fraser pointed out.
He said if the minister said that the plant is producing about 6 to 700,000 gallons a day, this means that something is drastically wrong if this is the case.
“A quick calculation on this whole thing: I was looking at some statistics that they presented to us some days ago that I saw. It said that they expended about $2.7 million in expenditure on that plant for the year 2011; about 80 percent of that money went to electricity, and if you took that plant, the kind of production capability that I mentioned to you, and you are to use the rates that they are paying at Bar Bay for water, that plant generated over $6 million a year in revenue. So if you take away the $2.7 million from the over $6 million a year, it’s over $3 million in profits that plant makes to government, so it’s in government’s best interest; even if they are not concerned about the consumer getting the water, it’s in government’s best interest to have the plant running at full capacity because it makes them money,” Fraser noted.
SEE PREVIOUS STORY BELOW
Despite statements made last year in March by former Communications and Works Minister Julian Fraser that the Baugher’s Bay Desalination Plant is working at its full potential, some residents in Baughers Bay are complaining that they are not getting water, particularly in the evening.
A caller on NDP Radio this week expressed disgust to Communications and Works Minister Mark Vanterpool about not getting water from the plant when he goes home in the evenings.
The caller said: “Before anything was done to that plant, before it was renewed, a number of persons use to get water. It is rather strange now since they put all that new equipment into that plant that a number of people that use to get water are not getting water any more. Would you believe that people who live around that plant in Baugher’s Bay, when we come home at 9 at night the water is turn off until morning? I wonder why that is happening? And … my understanding is that the plant is producing more water and if it’s producing more water, more people should be getting water from this plant and the situation is getting worst instead of better.”
Vanterpool, in response, said the Baugher’s Bay Plant has some issues that must be remedied.
“The water at the Baugher’s Bay Plant is something that we have concerns about. We are working at that. The plant is not producing as much as it produced before. It’s lower than the 1.3 million gallons a day. I think it’s down to 6 to 700,000 gallons a day, so it’s not sufficient water being produced. We have some issues with it in terms of how it’s being operated and we are looking at that. We had reports recently, even in Standing Finance by the Water and Sewerage Department on the matter, and as the Premier said in his budget speech, we are reviewing all of the water agreements and water operations, Vanterpool said.
In March last year, on announcing the first anniversary since keys for the Baugher’s Bay desalination plant was handed over to the government by former operators, Ocean Conversion, then Communications and Works Minister Julian Fraser said the plant was now working at its full potential.
He said: “The people of metropolitan Road Town, its surroundings including Baughers Bay, Fish Bay, Kingston, Purcell, Free Bottom, Huntums Ghut and those along the Ridge Road, including Belle Vue, Fahie Hill, Long Trench, Meyers, Harrigan, and including Cane Garden Bay and Brewers Bay, and points between, have endured tremendous hardship over the past year as a result of low and sometimes no water production from the Baugher’s Bay Water Desalination Plant.”
Fraser had said government got into this unfortunate situation when the former operators of the plant “unceremoniously handed it over in it’s shut-down mode to us without any form of preparation on our part on March 29 2010.”
He had said since this day government has been steadfastly plugging away at fixing the many problems ever since.
“In the period March 29, 2010 to March 29, 2011, during our time of possession, we have endeavoured to rebuild in its entirety the Baughers Bay Desalination Plant, beginning with the well field and ending with the two desalination trains,” the minister said.
The then minister said that on Friday, March 11, 2011, the Baugher’s Bay Desalination Plant was fully commissioned and that water production is just above one million US gallons a day.
He had told the media that they were still tallying the cost of the work done on the plant but his estimate is about $2 million.
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35 Comments
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What!!!leader of VIP-next Premier?????? Mr arrogant,self-centered fool. Heaven help us all the day that happens. VIP might have stand a chance had it not been for him. Looking out for himself and the 3rd district and not for the entire party. All for self and non of thee.
First step to getting the plant back into OC hands so that the NDP business elite can start making money again.
And so continues the cycle of alternate methods of corruption of no benefit to the nation or to the majoity of the people.
Fellow Virgin Islanders, lets not fall into the trap of politicians who are acting for their own self interest. The ruling class, the politician, the policymaker profit and benefit by keeping the electorate divided. If we are divided and beating up on each other, we cannot focus on their poor performance, their doublespeak.
The focus should be on fixing the water plant, getting the plant production well north of 1,000,000 gallons per day. Focusing on who is responsible at this point is a red herring, a Trojan horse. The campaign is over; the election was on Nov 07. Additionally, train and install a management team to operate and maintain the plant. Water is too important to our day-to-day life to relegate it to political soccer, to political theatre.
I concur fully. Well said.
There is likely to be more water supply problems because the population keeps growing and the demand for water will also keep increasing. Many BVI islanders have been taking up studies abroad.Why government do not offer scholarships for study in this area.On completion of the study why can there be an understanding with the makers of the equiptment at baughers bay plant for local plant engineers to be attached overseas to get more experience before returning to the BVI to manage and service the plant.We need trained engineers in this field to be on duty at the plant 24 hrs a day.The plant operation is a serious business and must be treated as such.Let us see some of our own going to study now so that in 5 or 10 years from now we will not have to be getting these types of problems.
The plant was owned by a foreign company from in the 90s and nobody had a problem with that. Investment Club bought shares in Ocean Conversion and I think their current foreign (minority) partner was the owner then. Anyway, they went on to purchase further shares until they were majority holders, so we had LOCALS owning our precious resource, water!! The contract stated that Government would own the plant after a specified period. Apparently that period had passed and that’s where the confusion starts, nobody knows who is to be blamed.
The other issue was that when NDP had power, they could’ve simply re-negotiated a contract with OC and get the matter sorted. BUT, with all the noise in the air about NDp being Investment Club, they decided to put the matter in court so that whatever decision would be impartial. BIG MISTAKE!!!! VIP took power after and Fraser was out for blood. While the court case was dragging on, Fraser decided that the Government would only pay OC half of what they had contracted, therefore, hampering the entire operation. You can’t pay a man half his money and want work done and maintenance done properly. Ocean Conversion then said okay, if the Government want the plant, they want back their money that was invested since it was, at the time Government own. They refused!
Back to court, on and on. Now, the judge ruled the plant is Government owned and as soon as she said that, Government personel jumped in and said Government CANNOT take control of the plant. Meanwhile, OC wrote to Fraser and Governemnt NUMBEROUS times telling them about issues at the plant. OC didn’t want to spend their money on the plant because Govenrment already said it was theirs, which make sense. Government despite pleas from OC didn’t spend any money either so we had a run down plant and Government claiming ownership but not wanting to invest. Then you had OC saying they would invest but they need a contract to ensure they recoup monies.
Judge ruling also included back pay of monies to OC because Fraser was paying them half. In all, Government owed OC over $10mil and to date I don’t think they paid it. OC approached them for a ‘MANAGEMENT’ contract, Fraser treated them like boys and said he don’t have any money for that and offered some lil boy agreement. OC refused and hand back the keys. So, why was Fraser surprised at the condition of the plant upon handing back to Government when they wrote letters to him outlining the problems? Why did Fraser tell OC they had no money yet one week after handing back, he spent over $3mil with Aqua Design to put the plant back together? Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to give OC their management contract, where they would supply what was needed and teh cost would be spread over time?
This is all hatred of eachother, nothing that couldnt’ be solved. NDP get a taste of what it is to try playing nice, they should’ve just gave the men another contract instead of trying to save face with people who didn’t give a shit about them in the first place. With that lesson learned that’ss why I’m confident Mark and Cabinet will give OC, OUR LOCAL COMPANY back the plant. Let biwater settle for their plant up Pari and that too will be handled differently. That my friends is the long and short. Fraser’s ego is what got us in this mess right now!!! What the hell Ray George know about frigging water? You all people serious? The plant is in disrepair because the experienced water man Ray was fired? GTFOH!!!!!
Excellent post, Crankshaft. Fraser has bullied his way into his own trap. And now NDP just needs to lock him in there and stamp the blame right across his forehead.
He has set himself up for NDP to take the plant back from him and his cronies and return it to the more experienced OC. All NDP need to do is seal the deal with a nice long-term management contract.
Experienced water man RAY?? What utter nonsense!!
When will the people have reliable information about the water. Who can we really trust.
One man says “A”, another says “B”. But at the end of the day, not one says anything that is benefiting the average consumer.
Ausar says it’s now time to call in the learned women on this issue since the men have no idea up to now on what to do!
Enough of the politics,and the nonsense that matters only to the power crazed politicians and die hard followers. At this point the consumers can careless who did what, when, where….etc. They want a quality, reliable water supply. Frazer is a member of the HOA. Thus, he should have an interest in the water problem. Mark is the current MCW with day-to-day responsibility for the public potable water system.
Get the system fix and put trained operator and maintenance personnel in place to keep the plant peak operational readiness. Get done!
Willock and Fraser is the problem of all the water headaches.
Maybe he did not lie. But he needs to explain why, in less than 1 year, the plant went from over 1m to 700k per day or less.
He should have worked out his differences with Ocean Conversion and negotiated with them to fix this government-owned plant before they handed operations over to government (if that is really what they wanted to do). His apparent personal animosity towards Ocean Conversion has now backfired on him. He has himself to blame and should not now be ‘shocked’.
Water has been going off in the Baughers Bay area even when Fraser was in office so he can’t say it was never so. I live there and I have to endure the headache; seacows bay water always on so he never feel our pain. Instead of trying to knock Mark, give him the information he needs and any good advice if necessary, dont play politics with this, we have come too far to be living like a third world country, so put your differences aside and help the people you claim to care so much about.
Did he lie? Well, let’s look at the evidence.
Were his lips moving?
why should we get the people who install the plant to maintain it/ we have 5 yes 5 persons as maintennance personnal at the plant plus 4 security personnal what are they there for. just paying them just to call whiskers when the plant goes down? the plant capacity was 1.3 million imp.gall. per day. the refurbush plant is 800,000 imp. gall. per day.how then is it up to par to what it was?
Read carefully, the man said that AFTER THE PLANT WAS REFURBISHED BY Government the production level was at 1,131,000 gals. per day. The new Minister has stated that the plant currently produces approx. 700,000 gals. per day. You may not like the man but that does not alter the facts.If the problem with the plant exceeds the capability of the local staff what options do you have? Believe it or not if that plant goes bus, that is when the s*&^ will hit the fan.
We need to get the darn politics out of the equasion and act like responsible people.
Breaking News!! The Minister is reported to have said that the water pressure in the mains will remain low until the sewage problems in the Road Town area are corrected. It is belived that the high rate of consumption of water is the main cause of the over flowing sewage system.
I knew it all the time, give Mark a chance and he will get to the bottom of the problem. Eat less go to the bath and toilet less and the sewage problem will go away.
We all should understand that Frazer also has $ in water and the OC would put a dent in his funds
I find Fraser not guilty of lying to the public. Lets face it, he is no saint but on this count he did infact returned the plan to full capacity and for some time no one complained about the lack of water. For the first time in approx. eight mths, there is low pressure in the lines. If the electrical plants were treated in the manner the water plant is now being treated, there would be island wide power outages. The answer is crystal clear, do that which is required to to enable the plant to function in an effeciant manner.
Three steps to get the darn plan back up to capacity;
1. Pay the company which was maintaining the plant for the past year which will enable their technicians to return to the Territory to affect the necessary repairs to the plant.
2. Stop this deceitful act which is intended to pave the way for Ocean Conversion to take control of the plant.
3. Enter into a short term contractual arrangement with the company which manufactures this type of plant which will ensure that it functions well until Biwater enters the picture. At that point the plant will no longer be needed.
4 Place country before self. Government paid OC at the rate of $6 million a year for water. When the plant was taken over and repaired by Government, the cost of operating the plant dropped to $2 million. Whose side is this Government on, OC or the people; you decide.Mark cut the crap and get with it.
The Treasurer, your proposals are reasonable, sensible, and practical. But do have info to support some your claims, i.e., maintenance personnel not getting paid, operational cost being reduced by 66% from $6M to $2M.
Secondly, did the former MCW really lie? After the former MCW stated that the plant was back to production capacity, was there a reliable supply of water? If yes, did he really lie? In any event, it does not a hill of beans. When a party(NDP, VIP, POP, UP, PPA) campaigns that it can it can do better job than the incumbent party, it just needs to act. No excuses. Or do they all stretch the truth to fool the gullible and grasp power. Victory achieved, then they sing a different tune. Enough already! We need to see action, positive outcomes, not just motion. Ministers need to stop skipping from pillar to post to see who can sound off the loudest. Did not a candidate for the 2-D sound off about an empty kerosene pan? The BVI is at a crossroad and we need to get to work on the people’s business.
Finally, a plant, equipment, cars, homes, organizations, countries….etc all needed maintenance to function in a reliable manner to meet their design intent. The water plant is a critical, vital physical asset that needs to be effectively maintain to be at peak operational assets. All equipment needs routine, periodic, and preventative maintenance to reach its design life cycle. Moreover, aging equipment needs more maintenance. Without proper maintenance, the plant will operate inefficiently and fail. If the The Treasurer is right lets get the maintenance experts on board unless the plan is to run the plant to failure.
let father branche strike a rock and bring forth water like moses.then we can store it for delivery
Is that a real question BVI news? He lied about EVERYTHING!!!!
Road Town dont have no water either in the evenings. It starts running slow after 8pm then by 10 it off. I still trying to find out whats going on!!!
u ain wash your daylights?! phew!
unlike you thats what bucket of water is for, I guess you does jus wait til it come back on….fast ur nasty ..fast….
Its disheartening that the government is unable to manage a water resource and infrastructure serving only 30,000. That’s the size of our population of just one neighbourhood in our city.
WHATEVER!
The truth hurts BOO.
all politicians are liars!
Whether Frasier lied or not is pointless at this time. The current government should work diligently to get the plant up to speed as quickly as possible so that people can have adequate water in their homes. There is nothing more frustrating and unsanitary than not having running water in our homes. Fix the darn thing, and let’s move on. Nuff said.
It is not totally pointless. Mr Fraser has a good chance of being the next leader of the VIP, and thus potentially the next Premier when the VIP next win an election. If he has lied to or mislead the public, these are the sort of things people should know about.
Frankly, I don’t think he lied. I believe Frasier found himself in a pickle with the plant and tried to be reassuring to the public. Whether or not the assurances he made did not pan because the workers did not follow thru or whatever does not mean he lied…a deliberate act. That’s a stretch for me.
With respect to Frasier’s political future, that’s totally speculative. Most people don’t care about that at this point. They want running water in their homes and businesses. Forget Frasier; he is no longer the Minister of Communications and Works. The Action Man is, and if he lives up to his name, hopefully the plant will be up to speed in the shortest time possibly.
Everything does not have to be political. We need to move on.
LOL If Whiskers be the great hope of VIP, I seh VIP have a long vacation ahead before return to office!
So hilarious!! Whiskers…. This was a good laugh… still laughing and typing
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