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The Argyle by-pass road after its most recent repair, in December 2016. (iWN photo)
The Argyle by-pass road after its most recent repair, in December 2016. (iWN photo)
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The views expressed herein are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the opinions or editorial position of iWitness News. Opinion pieces can be submitted to [email protected]

Julian Francis, as the Minister of Works, oversaw the building of the Argyle bypass road. As that minister, he must take full responsibility for the building and the final construction of the road.

If you are willing to take the glory for success and effulgence for the Unity Labour Party, the family dynasty and as partial dynastical plantation owner, you must also be willing to take the criticism and condemnation when something under your watch goes wrong. As a minister, you must be prepared to resign. As a member of the ruling family dynasty you, of course, can just smile at even the thought of that. Why would you give up something that you claim to own?

When being built, the Argyle bypass road required lots and lots of drainage, but insufficient was installed, which meant instead of draining into drains and gullies and then eventually on into the sea, it permeated into the ground on the wrong side of the road. The ground it was most likely to permeate was the ground that was filled and not sufficiently compacted, and that’s exactly what it did. Not just filled ground under the road, but filled ground all over the airport and its curtilage too. To make things many times worse the small seasonal waterways and natural drainage channels not recognised in the dry season were simply filled without provision for diversion when running water in the wet season.

What occurred is that when they excavated for the road through the hills they cut through a clay and loam subsoil which they used to fill the valleys and dips, including dry streams and dry riverbeds.

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When Julian Bodge made the statement that the road was open again after its most recent collapse, I was quite surprised to hear him say it was a temporary fix suitable for about two years. Surely the road should have a final engineering correction and cure before the airport becomes operational. There is plenty of space to work on the area where the original collapse took place and there is time to try and rebuild the original road without the now hairpin bend.

We all know the road has collapsed twice already. The problem for the second collapse was exactly the same problem as with the first collapse and may be the same or similar for the third in about two years time. I say similar because they have put a lot of rock under the repaired road but those rocks are still sitting on and are surrounded by a huge floppy mud pudding.

Why on earth would you make a temporary road repair when it is serving what is hoped to be a permanent feature known as Argyle International Airport. It means at some time in the future when the airport is complete and (we hope) opened, that once again the road will have to be closed which will seriously affect travellers. It will put five mile on the journey from the Leeward to the airport entrance road and vice versa.

I was recently told that there are several other sections of the road that received the same treatment and may be prone to road collapse. I am not sure that is true unless some dimwit excavates close to the road like they did where the recent collapse occurred. Also unless they have seriously ignored the water and drainage problem like they did where the recent collapse took place.

One other thought to keep in mind is all that water that is continuously draining from the adjacent hills as surface water ends up at Argyle airport. But there is much, much more, draining underground from the hills and mountains that ends up under the airport and they have made no provision at all for that.

That land on which the terminal aircraft apron is built and some areas on which the runway is built were ancient swamplands, fed by spring water. The hills and the mountains surface water has always drained into Argyle and so has the underground water. It will continue to drain into the area as it has done for perhaps the last million years.

All the rubbish spoken about extra rain this year is just that: rubbish. It has always been a wet area that is why there are many ruins of water mills in the area left from sugar production days. But many of those mills no longer have streams next to them that tells us in the past it was far wetter than today. The area has always been famous for its spectacular rainbows and you only get rainbows where it rains.

No, it’s not doom and gloom; it’s being realistic; admitting what is wrong and asking for it to be put right. But in the case of water at Argyle is it too late for corrections? What is the answer? I honestly do not know, perhaps a firm of foreign engineers with experience in such matters should be consulted, and not the Cubans who took ten years to finish the three-year project. Get some British or Americans, Germans, Canadians, someone with some savvy.

The Argyle Airport and its bypass road has been a series of blunders, we cannot blame Julian for the airport but we can blame him for the road. But I suppose seeing as the airport is so deeply connected to the family dynasty perhaps Julian should get a portion of that blame as well.

The airport has put our country into what some see as eternal debt. I hope they do not sell the Arnos Vale airport because we can be almost sure it will be needed again at some time in the very near future least we are cut off by air from the outside world. Things will go wrong at Argyle because of the engineering, several underground drains that are only four feet square running for almost a mile are already half silted up and not much prospect of them ever being cleaned (or are capable of being cleaned out) out if the ULP government runs true to form.

What can we do? Very little we will be long gone and it’s a problem for our children and grandchildren and even their children; it’s their problem. A problem created by one man’s political ambitions and dreams. I, of course, refer to the family dynasty leader and creator of the Argyle folly, Ralph E Gonsalves. I also blame those in diaspora who have supported this man’s dreams with their selfish greed and ignorance with little regard for those Vincentians who in the future will be paying for Ralphs folly. The diasporans or their children will not be paying in the future as their children and grandchildren are assimilated into the country where they are born and to which many will swear allegiance. Our offspring will have to bear the debt created by this political party, this family dynasty, this man aptly called the comrade, with the assistance of those in the diaspora.

Goodbye and I wish all the readers and writers the best for 2017; in God’s name we will need it.

Peter Binose

P.S. There are still 61 people who remain unpaid for their land taken from them to build the airport eight to 10 years ago. The Barbados road contractor C.O. Williams Ltd. is still owed in excess of $20 million for their work; they confirmed so in an email to me. Are certain hardware companies still owed $60 million? I think they are for the last several years, but will stand corrected.

The opinions presented in this content belong to the author and may not necessarily reflect the perspectives or editorial stance of iWitness News. Opinion pieces can be submitted to [email protected].

4 replies on “Why a temporary fix to a recurring problem?”

  1. Peter, why do you always have to spoil what you write with gratuitous, inflammatory, and hyperbolic comments about “the family dynasty and as partial dynastical plantation owner” and “member of the ruling family dynasty” comments that transform what might be legitimate social commentary into rank political propaganda?

    SVG is a free independent parliamentary democracy “ruled over by” a symbolic hereditary monarch, Queen Elizabeth, the closest thing we have ever had or will ever get to dynastic rule.

    Ralph Gonsalves is Prime Minister because he won his fourth election fair and square, as duly certified by three independent external agencies.

    Ralph Gonsalves appointed Julian Francis as his Minister of Public Works as was his constitutional right. Whether Mr. Francis is doing a good job or not, is an entirely different matter. Whether he is doing a better or worse job than any of his predecessors, at least one of whom showed up drunk every day, is also a matter of conjecture.

    Camillo Gonsalves is a well qualified and educated Member of the House of Assembly, having won his seat fair and square. Ralph Gonsalves appointed him as a Minister of government as the Constitution allows. There is nothing in our constitution that would disqualify him from this position or prevent him from succeeding his father as Prime Minister, if the people vote for this to happen.

    You well know that I have no use for most of the policies of this government which I consider to be the worst in our history, if only because every decision it makes and every dollar it spends is aimed at keeping it in power.

    I also accept that, like all previous Vincentian governments before it and like all governments throughout the Caribbean, this regime has been guilty of nepotism, patronage, mismanagement, vote buying, and other bad things.

    But like it or not, it won 8-to-7 seats in December 2005 with a majority of the popular vote.

    If you want to see real political family dynasties check out Cuba or North Korea.

    Thank God, we are a free people living in a democratic society even if the party in power is not of your liking.

    1. It is already proven that Gonsalves did NOT win his fourth term fair and square. His own actions of “delay” are further proof of that, not to mention the behavior of Mr. Gaymes, then admitting he cheated, and all the other evidence as well! It reminds us what “the comrade”, “papa” Stalin once said”
      “He who casts the vote decides nothing. He who counts the vote, decides everything.”

  2. Dear beloved Doctor Professor C. Ben-David internet policeman extraordinaire.

    Thank you so much for making us all aware of your opinions and corrections.

    You of course being a superior being, a literary genius and scholarly specialist on just about everything, must be correct in all aspects.

    So thank you once again dear beloved friend for your help in this matter.

    I for one will happily take on everything that you write and agree with you even if it is a little Thomas Crapper’ish. Unlike Thomas I will not flush you even if you deserve to be. Of course as an old friend I would never suggest such a thing

    By the way how is Bonapart have you spoken to him recently? He told me when we last met in late 1815 on the island of Saint Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean. He told me how wonderful it was for him to have long discussions with you dear doctor David about Vincentian politics. How wise and wonderful you are and how he respected your good judgement and unquestionable points of view.

    Peter XX

  3. Peter Binose:

    David, why do you always have to spoil what you write with gratuitous, inflammatory, and total b….cks, commentaries about “the family dynasty and as partial dynastical plantation owner not being a fact” and “including claiming membership of the ruling family dynasty is not factual” comments that transform what might be legitimate social commentary into rank political propaganda on behalf of the internet police federation?

    SVG is most certainly not a free independent parliamentary democracy “ruled over by” a symbolic hereditary monarch, Ralph E Gonsalves, the closest thing we have ever had or will ever get to dynastic rule.

    Ralph Gonsalves is Prime Minister because someone in his party rigged the elections his third and fourth elections were unfair and certainly not square, although duly certified by three independent external and one independent internal organizations who were looking the other way.

    Ralph Gonsalves appointed Julian Francis as his Minister of Public Works, as was his constitutional right. But more so because he was his cousin and Mr Fixit extraordinaire. Whether Mr. Francis is doing a good job or not, is an entirely different matter. Whether he is doing a better or worse job than any of his predecessors.

    Camillo Gonsalves is a well qualified and educated Member of the House of Assembly, according to you David having won his seat fair and square. But there is some doubt in the minds of people about that. Ralph Gonsalves appointed him as a Minister of government as the Constitution allows, also because he is his son, a member of the family dynasty and his protection against future accusations. There is nothing in our constitution that would disqualify him from this position or prevent him from succeeding his father as Prime Minister, despite that is that it will not be approved by the people. The people will never vote for this to happen.

    You well know that I have no use for most of the policies of this government which I consider to be the worst in our history, if only because every decision it makes and every dollar it spends is aimed at keeping it in power rather than improving the condition of our country and its people.

    I also accept that, like no previous Vincentian governments before it and like all the other socialist governments throughout the Caribbean, this regime has been guilty of nepotism, patronage, mismanagement, vote buying, and other bad things.

    But no one should be asked to like how they stole the election by fraud and rigging 8-to-7 seats in December 2015 when actually they had the minority of the popular vote.

    Just like you David I actually reject this government because we believe our people were too ignorant to make the “correct,” choice, a frighteningly elitist and potentially totalitarian position on your part David but not on mine, if there ever was one.

    If you want to see real political family dynasties check out Cuba or North Korea, Venezuela, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

    If you want to see real dictatorships, check out most of Africa, the Middle East, and China, and coming soon to a cinema near you at the new city at Arnos Vale city, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

    God knows, we are not a free people although claiming to live in a democratic society as the ULP party in power whittles away our freedom and constitutional rights.

    These comments were written from modified comments made by the internet policeman PhD Professor C. Ben-David. His work was used as a template and then tailored to my pleasure.

    Peter Binose

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