Govt pays company $336K for extinguishing Cox Heath fire, site maintenance
File photo of the fire and metallic waste at the Cox Heath dumpsite months ago.
One local company will be paid more than three hundred thousand dollars for its part in extinguishing the massive fire that flared up at the Cox Health dump in Pockwood Pond back in May.
During a Cabinet meeting on November 8, the Department of Waste Management was allotted $813,081.87 to implement its medium-term debris clearance plan.
Out of that amount, $336,500.00, will go to Tortola Concrete Products to help out the blaze which took months to extinguish.
The payment is also covered costs for services the company provided for ‘maintenance of the site’ for the period of January 1 to May 9, this year.
There was no reported tendering process for the jobs.
In the meantime, another set of funds are also being allocated to the Department of Waste Management to procure new equipment to properly deliver and dispose of waste at the Pockwood Pond based-site.
Cabinet approved funds of $682,548 for the equipment purchase.
Cabinet waived the tendering process for procuring the equipment and gave the proverbial green light for the equipment to be sourced “through competitive shopping with the requisite approvals of Cabinet being sought prior to execution of purchase”.
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Unbelievable ….336 K to take 6 months to put out a fire. This cr—ed sh-t needs to stop…
It’s still on fire?
JUST IN TIME TO FUND THE CAMPAIGN
Hmmm is the subject minister awarding work to his campaign financer? This don’t look right at all.
Dont believe this
Look where the fire was from the sea
Put the Fire service there and let them pump sea water ; It could NOT have taken them a month to out the fire
But as some one jus said
Campagin Fund$$
white head gone ahgen
The money was taking too long to pay on a no bid job, that why he gone with white head.. Guess that is what PVIM is all about.
Down there still burning.
Imagine if before the events that unfolded at Coxheath the Fire service had 300K in proper equipment and PPE
They didn’t have enough money to send a proper fire truck to Virgin Gorda, they sent them an old one that was practically worse than the bad truck they already had. But somehow magically they find that much money for TCP to put out the fire and maintain the site. Wonders will never cease. Then the fire department apparently does not have pumps that can get the sea water across the street to the fire. Let us all hope that some disastrous fire doesn’t start that the fire department with all its lame equipment can’t put out. Better pray TCP will be available to put it out for us.
Pockwood Pond on fire again. Maybe when they burn down the entire neighborhood (except for TCP of course) they’ll put some kind of equipment on site to deal with this stuff. But of course that might be too much like big picture thinking. We can only do that with the airport. Nothing of course where human life is concerned.
Good old Ronnie! Ever backwards, never forwards!
And the government lit it off !
Well sah…Change going have to come. Look at the fire station in SHAMBLES and this government have money to be throwing around to a private company…just disgraceful…DISGRACEFUL…look at the condition the firemen and firewoman going to work in…no enough fire trucks…just look…DISGRACEFUL….all these Clowns need to be VOTED OUT….VOTED OUTTTTTTTTT and the Queen need to do she investigation
The firemen don’t even have a roof over their heads
Uk contributions gone with Irmaria
And Pockwood pond on fire AGAIN in the last half hour
You can never please black people. Y’all were ranting about the smoke and how the government this and that and why it is taking them so long to out the fire. Y’all need to educate yourselves. It’s not that easy to out these kinds of fires. Now that the fire is 99% contained because of me and a few coworkers working at the site every single day in order to make the residents on the west side of the island breathe healthy again. It seems as if y’all don’t even care about that. Some of y’all don’t even know that I was hospitalized due the the toxic smoke being inhaled to protect yours y’all don’t even know I was still sick and went back at the site just because I cared for your health, your children health,and your families health but instead you all are now ranting about how much the government spent to get the fire contained
Thank you for your service, and thanks to all your coworkers too. It was appreciated.
We appreciate your service and your sacrifices. Unfortunately negativity and slander has come to characterize the Virgin Islands. Don’t take it personally.
Controlling fire on a site like that takes more than fire trucks and water. Heavy equipment and earthworks were needed. But I guess the Government should have let it burn while advertising a tender. Welcome to VI logic 101. SMH
Wasn’t BVI given assistance from USVI to out this fire? Where de heck a private contract come in?
You all need to read the article again and get the facts straight. It says for maintenance of the site from January to May also. I was hauling hurricane trash to that site and see them equipments packing that garbage as it came in from the many trucks every day. Them people work and lost equipment on doing that job. People seem to forget what this place looked liked after the hurricane. well that is where all the trash went and them people who was packing it on coxheath as we dump it. The fire was in May and part of the payment was for helping with that. I work my trucks for government carrying waste in them months, it had no bidding thing, it was emergency time , they tell we work and we will get paid. Stop bashing people, remember history could repeat itself again and is them same people we going need.
Emergency you say but you still bleed Government
Why not have full disclosure and indicate ALL persons who received payment in relation to this? These gimmicks to taint people’s credibility and to spread propaganda should stop. So are you now saying that Ronnie single-handedly gave Ashley a no-bid contract, and that the other members of Cabinet were not in a position to vote against it?
To all of you biased NDP people,go look at all the money wasted by Mark,Myron and DrSmith just to begin with.Kng Whitehead gave of his time and extensive expense to clear roads etc free of charge after hurricane Irma,What did any of you do? Do you want him to give of his services and equipment free of charge. Thank God the fire is out,Many of us suffered physically from the fumes for weeks on end,Ungrateful unthankful people.
You all can spread as much hatred and propaganda against Ronnie as you want,including you Myron,but mark my words,you will NOT head the next Government.
You hit the nail on the head- because we VIslanders don’t demand transparency and accountability from our government (lest our driveway not be paved), we get to throw around nonsense accusations. It’s our OWN FAULT!!!!!
The answer is simple; demand a full accounting.
And in case that wasn’t clear enough, when you vote, don’t vote based on your outstanding credit card bill today, vote based on the future you want for your family and our Virgin Islands.