Thursday, May 13, 2010

Controversy Over Hewanorra Re-development


The proposed expenditure of Hewanorra Airport has received more air time than any of the items in the recently passes budget as the two political parties, the ruling United Workers Party (UWP) and the St. Lucia Labour Party (SLP) have been involved in a war of words that has nothing to do with the re-design but rather over who get's the contract.

Described as the largest undertaking by any government since the independance of St. Lucia, there is much speculation by the SLP that the government has awarded the half-billion-dollar Hewanorra Airport re-development project contract to Asphalt and Minning. The government in response says that a Request for Proposal for Design, Finance Built Project which was developed by The St. Lucia Air and Sea Port Authority (SLASPA), a number of proposals were submitted by prospective Contractors, Architects and Financial Institutions. However, the SLASPA, who is the executing agency, has made it clear the project is still in the negotiation stages and to date no contract has been awarded and therefore, no government guarantee have been given for it's financing.

But the SLP is having none of that. They Party has called on Prime Minister Stevenson King and the Minister of Communications and Works, Guy Joseph to explain how a US company with no experience in road construction or airport financing was given a contract to to construct $EC12.5 million worth of roads and to raise EC$432 million for the redevelopment of Hewanorra Airport.

The SLP believes that Minister Guy Joseph and his friendship with a gentleman who alledgely is a shareholder of Asphalt and Minning a company that has received a significant contract for roads construction and now is under consideration for the awarding of the airport project. In it's short existence in road building on the island, Asphalt & Minning has failed miserably and had to subcontract most of it road building job to C. O Williams Construction, another road building company on the island.

On Rick Wayne's radio show "Talk," Minister Joseph confessed that his long time friend ownes 5 percent shares of Asphaly & Minning. He said that the suspicion got started when he was stopped by the police for having in his possession of a car leased by Asphalt & Mininng. Joseph said that the car belong to his friend. It is know around town that Joseph has had that vehicle in his possession for quite sometime, even driving it to his office and parking it in his reserved parking space.

In a face-off on the "New Spin" talk show, between the SLP's Public Relations Officer, Eugene George and the Prime Minister's Secretary, Darnley Labourne, the controversy intensified. Labourne admitted that Asphalt & Minning is part of a consortium which show interest in the Airport Project. He said that there has not been a clear determination of how the project will be financed. He further stated that the governmenr nor SLASPA has not been given Asphalt & Minning permission to raise money for the project. How the SLP arrived at the $EC432 million costing of the Airort Project is still a mystery. To date, neither the government not SLASPA have not made any categorical denial of the sum. --Leo Donnelly

2 comments:

  1. Good that you are passing on the informaton through the diaspora. Let us keep the discussion and debate going. This is a healthy part of the democratic process

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