St. John’s Antigua- An official on the Barbuda Council has dispelled suggestions that sand mining has been continuing despite a recent Council decision to halt all such operations.
On Tuesday, two sources contacted OBSERVER Media indicating that at least four barges of sand were seen leaving Barbuda in the face of a resolution that was passed on April 9, 2012.
However, Kelvin Punter, the chairman of the council, said the barges that left Barbuda within the past month were mined and paid for before the decision of the council took effect.
“What actually happened, when the date of April 9 was decided for sand-mining to cease they already had a stockpile so those sands that they see leaving were not freshly mined and it can and will still be shipped. It is not a situation in which mining is happening,” Punter said.
Punter said no sand mining would take place unless there is a resolution by the council hence KB Supplies would not be needed to handle the mining any longer when the stock is depleted.
Sand mining had been ongoing on Barbuda for approximately 30 years and there have been several resolutions to bring it to a halt. However, each decision to halt was short-lived because Barbudans depended heavily on the business for economic survival.
The official said the most recent resolution was necessary to prevent further degradation of the environment given Barbuda is flat and floods easily.
So Mr Councilmen ..How are we in Barbuda going to survive when there is nothing in place to substitute the revenues from sand mining …You all turn down every investor that try to spend monies in Barbuda…. There is going to be a great crisis in barbuda…
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