Was public misled? 'CDB did no study on ports project' – Premier Smith
Speaking at his latest press conference held at the Central Administration Complex on February 10, 2016, Premier denied the existence of the report.
In response to the media, Premier smith said, “The Caribbean Development Bank to the best of my knowledge did not do a study of the project. They were not involved in the project. They came to do some other work but not the ports project specifically.”
The members of the Opposition have been calling on the Government to release a report coming out of a study they said that the Caribbean Development Bank had done. They were of the view that the report was unfavourable and this was the reason that the Government was reluctant to release it.
Leader of the Opposition Honourable Julian Fraser RA spoke of the CDB study as recently as January 22, 2016 as he wrote a statement on his Facebook page regarding the cruise pier development project.
“Also, you may recall, that when the PAC report on the same Pier Project went to the Governor seeking a Commission of Inquiry, the Premier undertook to commission the Caribbean Development Bank to do an independent investigation, to which a report was prepared and submitted with recommendations to this same Premier, and to this day he is yet to make it public. And that was over a year ago,” said Honourable Fraser on his Facebook page.
The other member of the Opposition, Honourable Andrew A. Fahie spoke of the presence of a CDB report during his First District annual report on January 23, 2016.
According to Hon Fahie, a CDB report commissioned by Premier Smith wrote and warned about the project. The report of the first audit for the same project done by CDB is still sitting on his desk and has not seen the light of day. Is this the actions of a government in the sunshine? Where is the sunshine? Come on! Let us get real.”
Governor John S. Duncan wanted Gov't to release CDP report on Ports Project
Meanwhile, Governor John S. Duncan OBE had also spoken about a CDB report on the Ports Development Project while on the JTV Channel 55 show Spotlight with host Cromwell Smith aka Edju En ka on Tuesday January 12, 2016.
Governor Duncan, who himself has rejected calls for a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Ports Project despite scathing allegations of corruption, was speaking about the need for more transparency from the National Democratic Party Government.
Referring to the Ports Project, Governor Duncan said he brought in an independent consultant while Premier Smith brought in the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the findings were reported.
“That there was no evidence of the allegations of corruption and we had thoroughly investigated them. We brought our independent people to look at it. There was evidence that our structures and process needed tightening and needed improvement. They were out of date, and sometimes politicians had gotten a little bit carried away with their enthusiasm and a bit frustrated with the way some of the procedures were rather bureaucratic and heavy and that had led to some issues that led to the whole issue of the Auditor General asking to do an audit.”
It is now the hope of the Governor that the NDP Government would be soon publishing the CDB report on the Cruise Pier Expansion Project as he said he has done his part in trying to bring about transparency.
He said both the experts brought in to see whether there was evidence of corruption on the Cruise Prier Project had said that a Procurement Law is needed to protect the interest of the territory and to see that contracts are fairly awarded.
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