Falklands : ORDINANCE POINT A POPULAR CHOICE FOR THE NEW DEEP WATER PORT
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 17.03.2012 (Article Archived on 31.03.2012)
Recordings of the Public Meeting held on Tuesday and the FIRS phone-in on Wednesday revealed a popular choice for the new deep water port. Though there were one or two objectors, the majority of those speaking and/or calling in mentioned that access to electricity, water roads, etc. were closer to Ordinance Point than it was to Navy Point.
ORDINANCE POINT A POPULAR CHOICE FOR THE NEW DEEP WATER PORT
An Editorial by J. Brock (FINN)
Recordings of the Public Meeting held on Tuesday and the FIRS phone-in on Wednesday revealed a popular choice for the new deep water port. Though there were one or two objectors, the majority of those speaking and/or calling in mentioned that access to electricity, water roads, etc. were closer to Ordinance Point than it was to Navy Point.
At Navy Point there needed to be a 400 Metre causeway to a point where the water was 10M deep as well as a 13 mile road built around to Stanley.
Those wanting Ordinance Point said that there would be less noise pollution and considerably less light pollution at night from that location than at Navy Point.
Stanley would look a lot better when going through the Narrows with the infrastructure at Ordinance Point.
At the public meeting Eric Goss said:
People get used to anything, so there is room for adjustment wherever you go. I don’t think the Islands really should be spending the oil money before we ever get it by thinking of Navy Point, the long road, the high expense and 400 metres to get 10 metres of water.
Brian Summers said:
I don’t think we could build a port there, to be honest, without destroying the entire area and I would certainly fight to keep the area as it is now. And it is something that is valued not only by people in the Islands it is a valued site for visitors.
East Cove was also mentioned but the detractors are that it is 35 miles from Stanley and the Military could close the port at any time it suited them. Transport to the port would be costly and the MPA Road would have to be properly surfaced all the way. This would add to the cost.
Nonetheless, using FIPASS for the next 20 years is not an option and it is thought that the inner harbour would be a good venue for expedition ships.
During the phone-in there was overwhelming support for Ordinance Point for a variety of reasons – most of them touting cost-effectiveness for the option.
Hopefully there will be lively debate about the issue during the next public meeting.
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