Falklands : Committee News: Transport Advisory Committee
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 17.10.2005 (Article Archived on 31.10.2005)
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COMMITTEE NEWS: TRANSPORT ADVISORY COMMITTEE
By J. Brock (FINN)
A meeting of the Transport Advisory Committee took place in the Liberation Room of the Secretariat at 1330 hrs on Thursday, 13 October 2005. Cllr. the Hon Mr. Stephen Luxton was Chairman. Others attending the meeting were: Cllr. Ian Hansen, Manfred Keenleyside, Bob Hancox, Ros Cheek, Fraser Wallace, Andrew Newman, Raymond Evans, Julian Morris and Trudi Lee.
After confirmation of the minutes of the meeting held on 05 May 2005, matters arising from the minutes were discussed. The main item, the Murrel Road Route, was the subject of an oral update by Road Engineer, Bob Hancox. He said that the route was out to public consultation and tender. Another oral update was about the Corral Creek culverts that had to be replaced due to winter deterioration. The culverts would be made of p. v. c. and while culverts made of it are difficult to install, they have an indefinite life no matter what the weather. Weather, plant, weather and tides had made the closure of the road around the culverts but the replacement should not deteriorate in the way the corrugated iron culverts did.
There was a page by page discussion of the Integrated Transport Study produced by the Policy Unit in September Internal shipping services were discussed at length with a basic requirement for two Island Shipping vessels, one for the ferry and the other for transporting goods to settlements. It was also suggested that Island Shipping does its own thing rather than going into partnership with the MoD. It was felt that the MoD would use the service anyway, once the roads were in place to help in the shipping effort to the mountaintops where the MoD has installations. Island Shipping would have to take the financial risk until the MoD came onboard. Military operations sometimes involved helicopter movements from ships and it would be something for Island Shipping to consider.
Roads were then discussed with a report that the network was nearly finished, however there were problems with heavy vehicles damaging the roads. When the road building project began the decision was taken to make low cost, high maintenance roads. The culprit seems to be heavy vehicles using these roads in the winter, causing them to deteriorate. They must be repaired, thus costing money during a time when Government Departments are trying to make savings.
One idea that caused discussion was that fuel taxes could be put on the cost of petrel and diesel that are used in vehicles. The more fuel a vehicle burns, the more money it raises for road maintenance. Generally all at the meeting thought there was merit in the idea and it will be discussed further in March during the next meeting. Though this idea was popular at the meeting, members realised that it would be unpopular with road users, who also are feeling the financial pinch of several successive poor Illex seasons.
With the figures worked out, it is not cheaper to fly a washing machine to West Falkland than it is by sea. Medical Evacuations are the first priority and mail, parcels and freight are second. Passengers are third. Air strips will not be closed and it is the responsibility of FIGAS to look after the safety equipment. Though they won’t be closed, some airstrips won’t be used. Those having the best infrastructure, rather than the closest, like Fox Bay, will be the main airstrips.
In closing, Cllr. Luxton said that though pressures affecting development are different, the resolutions would be political ones. It was generally agreed that consultation on the Integrated Transport Study should take place after the election. Details would be published in due course.
The date of the next meeting will be in March 2006.
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