Last weekend, Prime Minister, Hon. Dr. Kenny D. Anthony paid a visit to the John Compton Dam located at the upper part of Roseau. The Prime Minister was accompanied by the General Manager of WASCO, Mr. Vincent Hippolyte and other technical staff of WASCO.

According to the Prime Minister, “I wanted to see the conditions at the dam for myself. I did not want to learn about it solely from anecdotes or technical reports.”

 

During the visit, the Prime Minister was taken by dinghy across the lake of water and visited the hinterland of the dam to look at the landslides which had caused major siltation of the dam.

Following the visit the Prime Minister observed that restoring the dam to an acceptable state will be a challenge for Saint Lucia. 

"The dam is an incredibly peaceful and serene environment. However, we have a major, almost unprecedented challenge on our hands.  De-silting the dam will be a massive undertaking perhaps stretching over several years. Millions of tons of silt will have to be moved to restore the dam to its original condition. For Saint Lucia, this will be a major project, the scale of which we have never undertaken before. WASCO is absolutely right to review all options and secure the best technical advice that is available to resolve the problem.”

The Prime Minister is of the view that the nation and its stewards must get a full appreciation of the situation. He has called on WASCO management to make arragements for the local press and government officials to get a first hand view of the current state of the dam. 

"The nature of the undertaking needs to be shared with the public. I have therefore asked Mr. Hippolyte to arrange a tour for the media at the soonest. I also believe that a joint parliamentary visit should be undertaken to the dam so that parliamentarians would, collectively, have a sense of the issues and the challenges. I have asked Mr. Hippolyte to arrange such a visit through the Speaker of the House of Assembly at the soonest”.