UPDATE: Premier Smith evades Cruise Pier questions in HOA
This was not to be, however, as Premier and Minister of Finance Dr The Hon. D. Orlando Smith effectively shot down a series of nine (9) questions related to the Cruise Pier project asked by Hon. Fraser.
Premier Smith told the House of Assembly that the questions being asked could not be answered as a result of “ongoing negotiations” about the subject; as a result of this he stated, it was his opinion that publication of the information would be “contrary to the public interest”.
He gave the same response as the reason for not answering any of the questions, including one which asked whether a contract had been awarded by the government to Tortola Port Partners Limited for the Tortola Cruise Pier and Park project.
Questions not answered (6-15) can be viewed in the link below:
See previous story posted April 5, 2013:
Hon. Fraser’s questions removed from HOA Order Paper unearthed!
-The Third District Representative had some very important and topical questions but not allowed to ask on behalf of the people of the Virgin Islands
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI- Many persons tuning into the seventh sitting of the second session of the second House of Assembly (HOA) on April 4, 2013 would have witnessed the heated exchange between veteran Third District Representative Honourable Julian Fraser RA, and Speaker of the HOA Honourable Ingrid A. Moses-Scatliffe.
The debate was over questions proposed by Hon. Fraser but never made it to the Order Paper for yesterday’s sitting.
Speaker advises Hon. Fraser why questions were removed
“Madam Speaker, as I’ve been given the floor, I crave your indulgence to make the observation that the questions appearing on the Order Paper are not at all representative of my submissions,” Hon. Fraser stated. “They represent less than thirty percent of my submission to the clerk. I had submitted a total of 14 questions to the Premier and Minister of Finance, but only 5 are placed on the Order Paper.”
The Member further stated that a question directed to the Minister for Communications and Works, Hon. Mark H. Vanterpool was also omitted. He then indicated to the Speaker, “given that those were very important questions” he would be most pleased if he could be assisted in avoiding a similar pitfall in the future by being enlightened about the line of thought involved.
The Speaker told the Assembly that she spoke to Hon. Fraser herself so he was “fully aware prior to you receiving the package with the documents and the questions and prior to this morning’s sittings of the reasons for those questions not being on the Order Paper…”
Hon. Fraser also mentioned that while on the streets he was told by a lady of the conversation he had with the Speaker. It’s unclear how this information may have reached out on the streets.
Questions that did not make the Order Paper from Hon. Fraser
Through our own investigations and information obtained by this news site and sources close to the situation, we were able to unearth a copy of the questions that would have been asked by Hon. Fraser, if they were allowed to make the Order Paper for the April 4, 2013 Sitting of Parliament.
Question 1
Madam Speaker, could the Hon. Premier and Minister of Finance please tell this Hon. House whether:
a. The company with the winning bid on the expansion of the cruise pier and the development of the adjacent property at Wickhams Cay I, has any Belonger interest in its ownership?
b. If the answer to a) is yes, please give this Honourable House the names of the interest holders and the percentage of such ownership interest. And
c. Is the company with the winning bid in partnership with any local companies, if yes, which company is it, and what percentage is such partnership?
Question 2
Madam Speaker, could the Hon. Premier and Minister of Finance please tell this Hon. House whether:
a. The Heads of Understanding dated March 27th 2012 signed and entered into between Tortola Port Partners Limited, as the Developer, and The Government of the Virgin Islands, wherein the parties agreed to “work closely together exclusively and as far as commercially reasonable to cooperate fully with each other in relation to negotiating and finalizing such Documents as they deem necessary for the advancement of their intended project within ninety (90) days from the date of this HOU, subject to the approval of a Trade License for the Developer”, was disclosed by the Government as part of, or made public for the benefit of other competing entities in the Public Tender of the Tortola Pier and Park project?
b. If the answer to a) is no, was it an oversight, or was it because the outcome of the tender was predetermined? And
c. Was a Trade License issued to Tortola Port Partners Limited for the purpose indicated in a) above?
Question 3
Madam Speaker, could the Hon. Premier and Minister of Finance please provide this Hon. House with a copy of the document referred to as “The Working Memorandum” referred to in the document Heads of Understanding dated March 27th 2012 between Tortola Port Partners Limited, as Developer, and the Government of the Virgin Islands.
Question 4
Madam Speaker, could the Hon. Premier and Minister of Finance please tell this Hon. House whether:
a. His Government or the BVI Ports Authority, has entered into any form of Agreements, Memoranda, or Heads of Understanding with Tortola Port Partners Limited other than the Heads of Understanding dated March 27th 2012 and The Working Memorandum referred to therein
b. If any such, Agreements, Memoranda, or Heads of Understanding exists, can the Hon. Premier and Minister of Finance please provide this Honourable House with copies?
Question 5
Madam Speaker, could the Hon. Premier and Minister of Finance please tell this Hon. House whether:
a. It was a condition of the tender process for the development of the Tortola Cruise Pier and Park for each Tenderer to demonstrate and establish that they have at least a twenty percent (20%) local ownership partner participation in the project?
b. If the answer to a) is no, was the requirement established during the subsequent proposal and negotiating process?
c. If the answer to a) and b) is yes, was the condition satisfied by the winner? And
d. If the answer to a) and b) is no, did any of the Tenderers produced in their Tenders such local partnership, and which ones?
Question 6
Madam Speaker, since it is a constitutional requirement that the Auditor General submit his / her reports to the Minister of Finance, could the Hon. Premier and Minister of Finance please tell this Hon. House whether:
a. The Auditor General has issued a report regarding the Tortola Cruise Pier and Park project, including any aspect of it or the internal public service process relating thereto?
b. If the answer to a) is yes, have the report or reports been made available to His Excellency the Governor and or the Government of the United Kingdom? And
c. Can the Hon. Premier and Minister of Finance please provide this Honourable House with copies of the reports?
Question 7
Madam Speaker, could the Hon. Premier and Minister of Finance please tell this Hon. House whether it is his Government’s intention to fund wholly or in part, the Tortola Cruise Pier and Park project development by way of raising passenger tax on cruse passenger?
Question 8
Madam Speaker, could the Hon. Premier and Minister of Finance please tell this Hon. House whether:
a. He is aware, that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL), one of the prime Tenderers on the Tortola Cruise Pier and Park project, has formally expressed to the Government of the United Kingdom their dissatisfaction with the entire Tender and negotiation process, on the grounds that it failed to conform to minimum standards that typically are present in a genuine government privatisation tender?
b. If the answer to a) is yes, how does he propose to mitigate any resulting falling out with the United Kingdom Government?
Question 9
Madam Speaker, could the Hon. Premier and Minister of Finance please tell this Hon. House whether he is aware, that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd has formally protested to the Governor, and Hon. Mark Simmonds, UK Minister for Overseas Territories claiming that:
a. The tender instructions for the Tortola Cruise Pier and Park project failed to outline the specific criteria used to evaluate and score the bid proposals.
b. The tender instructions were insufficient to produce a winning bid proposal
c. They were not allowed to discuss their project ideas with government officials or obtain clarification of various questions about the bid. Which was not the case with their competition who had freely interfaced with the same government officials extensively for the previous nine months?
d. They question the legitimacy and impartiality of the process, and objected to the presence of Mr. Cline during the Tendering stages, since he was the “active Chairman" of the Negotiating Committee. And
e. That they considered the attitude of the same Mr. Cline and some of his committee members towards their group as antagonistic, attacking, aggressive, patronizing and unfriendly. And that their attorneys were no different.
Up to press time, both the Speaker of the House Hon. Moses-Scatliffe and Opposition member Hon. Fraser could not be reached for comments.
92 Responses to “UPDATE: Premier Smith evades Cruise Pier questions in HOA”
These are the same questions the public has been (repetedly) asking, yet to date, have gone unanswered.
I guess we know where allegiances lie!
...have a nice day...!!!
You are a fool, Fraser is not trying to fool anyone he is brining the issues out there. that wutlissness and disgraceful nastiness who is the sp.... needs to be fired, where in the world would you hear that but remeber Inez did that to the VIP during her speaker reign from 2003-2007. The NDP does not care about VI they care about themselves and it is obvious, those questions were not bad. Fraser is the only one looking out for us in the 3rd... bull pup aint going to do that. so you need to shut it, and talk what you know. Fool Fool Fool the NDP has fooled you!
This Corrup NDP Gowerment fraid to answer questions on the Cruise Pier Project because them got a lot to hide. She should stay out of the nastiness
UK- stop it now to get more answers.
Euripedes
The political fallout has begun. The seeds of political discord have been sown......now the question remains: Who go reap it
Oh! exactly what I thought, you cant do it right? Exactly, that is why Fraser was asking, so you and all the rest of us will know the answers
Was the issue with the Port Pier Project Tendering in the Court? Was it in a Committee? Is it a secret? Tell the speaker stop playing politics. And you should see that this is wrong. And to say there are things bigger than this to worry about, is like playing god, trying to tell us what is important to us.
The BVI is for sure gone to the dogs. They want to shut down the media houses, now they even want to shut down the opposition what is wrong with my country????
The Speaker is guided by Standing Orders which she has complied with. Get it, people, she is within her right to do what she did. We sound like a bunch of haters of each others and totally divided. Many are shouting abuses at each other rather than speaking to the subject matter. Wake up, people.
This is a development that will change the character of Road Town and BVI forever as the front door for cruise ships. Has a study been done about how passengers spend, move around, how many come off the ship, how many tour- and as seen in Jamaica- how many local vendors get bypassed?.
This can NOT be done quickly and with ego or self-involvement or hidden agenda. How is this going to be funded? costs etc. where is town and country or even planning and ports authorities on this other than being "yes" men to the government?
Fraser is not my favorite person and when the shoe was on the other foot, he played as many games.
But this all has GOT to stop and become responsible planning and development or we all lose.