The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

AN environmental advocate is warning that destroying the Perpall Tract Wellfield Forest to make way for housing could leave surrounding communities more vulnerable to flooding and erase one of New Providence’s last major forests for generations.

Terry Miller, executive director of The Bahamas Association for Social Health and founder of Earth Village, said he believes the government is moving to clear one of the island’s final significant forested areas for development. He said he has seen workers cutting roadways through the forest and conducting studies, and recalled hearing tractors felling trees just last week while leading children on a tour of the site.

When contacted by The Tribune, Minister of the Environment Zane Lightbourne said the Ministry of Housing’s Adastra Gardens housing extension is planned for the area. He said trees will be removed to facilitate construction, but added that mitigation measures include replanting and installing stormwater drainage to address flooding concerns.

A public consultation on the project is scheduled for February 10.

In February 2025, Minister of Housing and Urban Renewal Keith Bell announced that Cabinet had approved the Adastra Gardens development, which will include 160 homes, along with an additional 40 homes in the Pinecrest Subdivision.

The Perpall Tract Wellfield is a 212-acre property acquired by the government in the late 1930s to supply water to the city of Nassau. Mr Miller said he has been clearing trails and stewarding the forest since 2022.

He said that in 2005, he formally began seeking a lease or Memorandum of Understanding with the government to protect the land and develop it as a major eco-tourism site. Later that year, a Disney Cruise Line shore-excursion team visited the forest. His plans, however, never materialised due to a series of setbacks.

Controversy surrounding the site intensified after the government announced plans to construct a $290m speciality hospital on part of the land. The 50-acre medical facility is slated for western New Providence.

Residents in nearby communities have repeatedly raised concerns about flooding linked to development in the area. In September last year, homes were inundated during Tropical Storm Imelda, leaving residents trapped.

Mr Miller described the flooding as the worst he has witnessed, recalling wading through knee-deep water, and warned that further development would only exacerbate the problem.

He said the hospital is planned for the far end of the property, but that officials now intend to build a housing subdivision on the remaining acreage.

“It is a deliberate decision to create another Pinewood Gardens,” he said. “This is not development. This is gross shortsightedness.”

“The people who will pay the price are not policymakers,” he added. “They are the residents, homeowners, school children and working families in surrounding communities.”

Mr Miller said he has not been contacted by government officials despite what he described as repeated efforts to obtain answers. He urged environmental stakeholders, including The Bahamas National Trust and The University of The Bahamas, to speak out in defence of the forest.