Health Minister want Terms of Reference be reviewed in the Landfill management contract.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Health Emil Lee announced at the Council of Ministers press briefing that the coalition is not in trouble and in fact the current government are doing their best to find long term solutions to the dump-fire and other issues that exists at the landfill. He said currently the Prime Minister William Marlin and Minister of VROMI are off island seeking solutions for the landfill. He said while Ministers are supposed to respect each other portfolios, in most cases their portfolios overlapped, secondly he said as a government they need to look in the mirror and look and see if they are doing the right thing.
Minister Lee admitted that the problems at the landfill have been going on years now, while several governments were in office and the long term problems were not properly addressed.
Despite that Minister Lee said that he wants the terms of reference of the contract awarded to the contractor that is managing the dump be reviewed. Minister Lee said that there are a number of things in the terms of reference that has his concerns.
He said that he asked the Inspectorate of Health to investigate and to see if the persons working at the landfill are properly equipped.
Asked if he approved the contract for the current contractor and if he did not peruse the terms of reference prior approving it? Minister Lee admitted that he did approve the contract, he did say at the time he had several concerns and he questioned his colleague Minister and took his word at face value when he approved the contract. He agreed that there was a sizeable savings to government. He said he believes that the price was too good to be true and as such he asked his colleague Minister if the department of VROMI did due diligence such as checking to see what the services will actually cost. He said that he has been conducting research online while he continues peruse the contract and terms of reference of the contract. He said he does not believe that if there are one or two fires then they should sit still.
Asked by SMN News if he as a Minister of Health visited the landfill to see if the workers are properly equipped, the Minister again admitted that he did not go to the dump but he did see photos and as such he believes that his questions are reasonable since safety is an item in the terms of reference.
Minister Lee concerned about fires at dump
Minister of Public Health, Social Development & Labor, Emil Lee, during the Council of Ministers press briefing on Wednesday, reiterated his concern about the health effects on people as a result of the fires at the dump.
During his briefing, the Minister made it clear that the coalition is not in trouble because his Ministry is issuing statements which effect another Ministry. “Normally, Ministers respect other Ministers portfolios, but often times, Ministries overlap with other Ministries. In this case, as the Minister of health, I need to look into the dump situation from a public health perspective”.
Minister Lee said that as Government, we should be mature enough to look in the mirror and re-examine what we are doing. There are clearly problems at the dump, and one of the priorities of the Government coalition is to develop a long term solutions. “As I look at the dump situation, I know that the fumes from the fire are not healthy for the population, and as a member of the Council of Ministers I have an obligation to try and figure out how we can prevent this”.
Repeated fires at the dump are not acceptable, and because there are health consequences due to the fumes, the Minister stated that he has already started doing research on how other countries manage their waste, and that he’s in the process of comparing the documents to get a feeling whether or not Government has given sufficient information so that the contractor can perform his job correctly. “If Government has issued those specifications , then the question would be: is the contractor working according to it? If the specifications are not clear enough, then clearly Government would be obligated to revise the scope of work”.
In the meantime, the Minister made mention that he has asked the Inspectorate to look at the safety of the workers at the dump, to see if they have proper safety protocols, and personal protection equipment in place. “If the fumes are not healthy for people living a distance away from the dump, then obviously the people working at the dump are at a higher risk level” concluded Minister Lee.
Press Release from Minister of VSA Emil Lee.
