Territory has to honour Biwater contract- Hon. Vanterpool
This announcement is in contrast to assertions by former Minister for Communications and Works Hon. Julian Fraser, RA who had accused the National Democratic Party (NDP) Government of pretending as though the “Agreement and Biwater do not exist”.
“The confusion surrounding this whole Biwater Agreement lies at the feet of this NDP administration which continues to pretend that the Agreement and Biwater does not exist. This disregard for the Terms of the Agreement was highlighted in the HOA when the Minister (Hon. Mark Vanterpool) told the House that his Ministry had done no expert verification of the drawings and specifications for compliance with both the American Water Works Association, and the American Society for Testing and Materials standards as required by the Agreement. And neither did they issue any certificates of completion, nor do they make regular construction inspections, as required,” Hon. Fraser had told Virgin Islands News Online in October.
The Third District Representative, known as the Liberator, concluded that most importantly, the Ministry of Communications and Works has elected to fire the Biwater Project Coordinator, a person who sat at the negotiations table with Biwater on the Agreement, and knew the terms of the Agreement inside out, and also knew the obligations of government with intimacy, and would most definitely have known when and if negotiations were to kick in.
“The Ministry even undertook to remove the technical expert appointed as Employer's Representative and replace them with the Permanent Secretary, who made no secret of their lack of familiarity with the project,” Hon. Fraser stated.
But Minister for Communications and Works Hon. Mark Vanterpool, speaking at the contract signing between Government and Sage Utilities Holdings Limited for the 6-month management of the Baugher’s Bay Desalination Plant on November 29, 2012 said Government has been meeting regularly with Biwater and is doing all it can to assist the company to fulfil its obligations of supplying water to the Territory.
He also said that when the 6-month contract with Sage Utilities Holdings Limited is up Biwater is expected to take over with the supply of water to the Territory.
“The Territory has to honour that contract…,” Minister Vanterpool said of Biwater.
He noted that Biwater was expected to provide water by November 2012, however, this has not happened because of the well known issue of Biwater having to change their plans for water supply to their plant from wells to the ocean.
“We are in the process of assisting them in their request for taking water from one of two options- taking water from the Paraquita Bay area or the Brandy Wine Bay area. These are discussions we are having. There are a number of things happening in terms of granting them Seabed Leases and so on. We are working very hard and as quickly as possible to accommodate that. It has to go through the process of planning which they have been working very hard at and we as a government will do everything we can to accommodate that and in the right way,” Hon. Vanterpool stated.
The Minister also said Biwater was informed of the interim measure Government has taken to ensure an improved water service to the Territory.
Hon. Vanterpool also assured that Biwater was doing its best to deliver on its contract despite the challenges and he too hopes that it would soon be able to do so.
Meanwhile, it was announced in the House of Assembly on October 9, 2012 that the Biwater Project had already seen some $25M invested in the construction phase.
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