Cries of concern continue to grow from the business community about the New Providence Landfill, as owners of the new Fusion Superplex, located at the tip of Gladstone Road, urge government to find an overdue solution for the remediation of the dump.
CEO of the Atavus Group Carlos Foulkes told Guardian Business yesterday that the investment company is concerned about the state of the dump, calling it an "immediate problem".
Foulkes explained that the $42 million Fusion Superplex family entertainment center is a "good distance" from the landfill to avoid any direct impact in the event of a fire. However, the complex is still subject to adverse occurrences, depending on the direction the wind blows during a fire.
"It (the complex) is in a logical location and has the advantage of elevation, and when the wind blows it usually blows in the southeastern direction, notwithstanding that the wind can change in our direction," said Foulkes.
"So we anticipate, if there is an incident at the dump, that we may have some negative effects."
Foulkes said Atavus, along with the local community, will petition the government to move forward with plans to resolve the issues at the dumpsite. "Politicians have been talking about it for years," Foulkes noted.
Minister of the Environment and Housing Romauld Ferreira said earlier this month that the new Free National Movement government is "speeding ahead" to finalize and retool the request for proposals (RFP) process for the remediation and operation at the landfill.
"For us, it is an immediate problem and therefore we would be stressing it as we move forward with our operations," Foulkes asserted.
But as the government mulls on a solution, Atavus has taken matters into its own hands to the tune of a $3 million investment to ensure that the building is equipped for possible hazardous events.
"We have done some things internally to mitigate any type of incident, that is to say, if the dump has a problem and then it comes in our direction, we have invested in filtration technology in our heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system," Foulkes said.
"We have just upgraded our HVAC system. During this upgrade we considered putting in filters so that in the vents, persons can be inside the building and not be bothered by the smoke."
Foulkes said the HVAC system recently underwent a $600,000 upgrade to accommodate extra performance measures, adding that the total system cost $3 million.
Fusion Superplex is expected to be open in the first quarter of 2018.

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