| BY
KEVA LIGHTBOURNE
GUARDIAN STAFF
REPORTER
The Government and
environmental agencies plan to meet with Bimini Bay
developer Geraldo Capo this month to discuss the
stalled project and environmental damage to the
island.
"I hope to get
all the government agencies involved so that we can
discuss the whole issue, including the BEST (Bahamas
Environment, Science and Technology) Commission and
whatever other government agency would have an
interest in this matter," Minister of Public
Works and Utilities Bradley Roberts told The Guardian
Sunday.
The $100-million
development sanctioned in July, 1997, calls for a
hotel of not less than 200 rooms, a residential
subdivision, a marina capable of handling more than
150 boats, an 18-hole golf course, a commercial centre,
gourmet restaurants, a boutique, a health spa, a
marine shop, tennis courts, children's play area, and
a 10,000-square-foot casino. No building has yet been
constructed.
"I know about
the environmental concerns they have down there and it
touches on my ministry, but it is really an issue for
the BEST Commission. They are responsible for
environmental matters," Minister Roberts said.
"My ministry
has the power under the law to deal with any
transgressions of the law and that is why we are
getting involved," he said.
After more than
five years of "on-again off-again" work at
the site, island residents and environmentalist
groups, are calling on the Progressive Liberal Party
government to immediately decide the fate of the
project.
They claim the
project has caused serious environmental and
ecological damage to the island and some local
fisherman believe dredging for the project is causing
a serious decline in conch, lobster and crawfish.
According to a
report released by American professor of marine
science, Samuel H. Gruber, there is evidence the
conditions in North Sound and Bimini lagoon have
seriously deteriorated over the past 24 months,
especially during the past six months.
The report says
this deterioration is related to a massive excavation
of the lagoon substrata causing greatly increased
sedimentation rates, increase in nutrient levels and
possibly release of heavy metals.
"Control of
the release of sediments has been ignored and thus
sediment loading and deposition all over the western
lagoon and the fringing coral reefs continues
unabated. The reason for such excavation appears to be
collection of cheap fill for building up land levels
and creating new islands. We believe that the value of
damage to the lagoon far exceeds the cost of imported
fill and it seems inappropriate to impact the most
important resource of the Biminis to obtain cheap
fill," the report says.
Last year, Minister
Roberts told the Guardian that his technical team was
investigating the site and was to list reasons why the
Government ought not to revoke the approval granted to
Mr. Capo, president of RAV Bahamas, a Miami-based
corporation.
The Biminis are a
group of sub-tropical island and quays located in the
Northwest Bahamas on the edge of the Great Bahama
Bank, 48 nautical miles east of Miami.
The main economy is
centred on tourism, primarily fishing and
diving.
Gruber, who is also
the director and owner of the Bimini Biological Field
Station, has charged that the developments have
already damaged both the economic and ecological base
of the charming and previously pristine islands.
"After five
years of on-again-off-again scarification, removal of
trees and mining of the lagoon bottom, not a single
building has been constructed."
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