Grand Bahama’s reverse osmosis plant hits another snag

A shipping mishap has further delayed the Grand Bahama Utility Company’s (GBUC) completion on its Reverse Osmosis (RO) facility, a press statement on the matter explained.

According to the GBUC, shippers were forced to apologize for a bill of lading problem that caused one of the company’s containers to miss the boat.

“GBUC confirms that two of the three containers transported from Belgium containing the utility’s reverse osmosis filtration units have arrived,” the company said.

“However, due to a bill of lading error on the part of the shipping company, the third container was not loaded with the others.

“GBUC was advised that it was placed on a later voyage departing from Belgium, and is estimated to arrive in Grand Bahama during the second week of October.”

Last month, the company reported another shipping error, explaining in a statement that a critical filtration unit for the $5 million plant was mistakenly shipped to Belgium, and as a result will not arrive in the country until September 18. 

Construction of the three-million-gallon reverse osmosis plant began in January, led by Bahamas Hot Mix (BHM).

GBUC said the shipping company apologized for the most recent additional error “leading to another major delay in progressing to the final phases of testing and commissioning of the RO plant”.

GBUC Director of Operations Philcher Grant said in the statement that the setbacks have been disappointing.

“Our team, along with our contractors Bahamas Hot Mix, have been working diligently, despite the added challenges of working through a pandemic, to ensure that this critical project would be commissioned as scheduled,” Grant said.

“We know what this means to the island and, though this particular aspect is beyond our control, we extend apologies to our customers for the further delay.”

The plant is critical to improving the water quality for Grand Bahama after the passage of Hurricane Dorian in 2019.

GBUC said the current 25 percent discount and free water sites will remain in place until the RO plant is fully commissioned.

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/grand-bahamas-reverse-osmosis-plant-hits-another-snag/