replacement dredge for Caye Caulker needed - 10/16/00 04:13 PM
Big worries being expressed by volunteers and Village Council members
on Caye Caulker regarding the dredge and the split. Everyone is afraid
that the open split will destroy the front of the island. It works like
a six hour vacuum pump sucking the front of the island out to the back
with big fast currents. On the change of the tide.
The dredge machinery got ruined by the Hurricane, it being on the back
and worst side for tidal surge. Can it be replaced quickly is the
question? Can international donations replace the dredge and get it
working again, before the tidal currents flowing on six hour cycles
through the split ruin and lose a half million dollars of dredging work
done prior to Hurricane Keith. While the issue of a replacement dredge
might not seem to be a high priority, it is indeed. Nature and the tides
wait for no person. It is going to be cheaper to replace the dredge and
get it working thru international donations immediately, than dilly
dallying around and waiting six months or a year, when the damage will be
so great that the cost of doing anything will have to be repeated, in
cluding half a million dollars in dredging work already done and still
there for the most part, plus the cost of a ruined machine. Replacing
the machine now and getting it working promptly will literally save a
million dollars for an outlay of only the cost of the dredge around a
$150,000.
Ray Auxillou
on Caye Caulker regarding the dredge and the split. Everyone is afraid
that the open split will destroy the front of the island. It works like
a six hour vacuum pump sucking the front of the island out to the back
with big fast currents. On the change of the tide.
The dredge machinery got ruined by the Hurricane, it being on the back
and worst side for tidal surge. Can it be replaced quickly is the
question? Can international donations replace the dredge and get it
working again, before the tidal currents flowing on six hour cycles
through the split ruin and lose a half million dollars of dredging work
done prior to Hurricane Keith. While the issue of a replacement dredge
might not seem to be a high priority, it is indeed. Nature and the tides
wait for no person. It is going to be cheaper to replace the dredge and
get it working thru international donations immediately, than dilly
dallying around and waiting six months or a year, when the damage will be
so great that the cost of doing anything will have to be repeated, in
cluding half a million dollars in dredging work already done and still
there for the most part, plus the cost of a ruined machine. Replacing
the machine now and getting it working promptly will literally save a
million dollars for an outlay of only the cost of the dredge around a
$150,000.
Ray Auxillou