Robert Hart, Parliamentary Reporter
Opposition Spokesman on Finance, Audley Shaw, is about to enter Gordon House to make his Budget presentation yesterday. - IAN ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
OPPOSITION SPOKESMAN on Finance, Audley Shaw, yesterday accused the Government of short changing Jamaicans while wracking up $760 billion in national debt.
During his contribution to the 2005/2006 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives, Mr. Shaw also charged the People's National Party (PNP) administration of corruptly doling out expensive contracts to a select network of companies and individuals.
In this regard, the shadow finance minister demanded a commission of enquiry into the cost overruns at the Sandals Whitehouse Hotel in Westmoreland.
He also called on the contractor general, the auditor-general and the director of public prosecutions to carry out special investigations into the award of contracts on a selective basis.
"These companies and individuals continually receive major contracts without competitive tender and then proceed to award subcontracts in an incestuous and corruptly interconnected way," Mr. Shaw said, while arguing that taxpayers end up paying hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overruns.
The subcontracts awarded without tender on the Whitehouse Hotel project, he claimed, read "as a who's who of the People's National Party".
Mr. Shaw said the total cost of the hotel project, for which Parliament approved Government loan guarantees, has drastically increased from US$60 million to US$105 million, an overrun of J$1.8 billion.
He also claimed that the hotel project manager received between two and three per cent in fees, or roughly between J$130 million and J$190 million.
"I am not going to say who it is ... Somebody might tell you to shut your damn mouth again," Mr. Shaw said in apparent reference to recent comments from beleaguered National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) Chairman, Alston Stewart.
Mr. Stewart is project manager for the Sandals Whitehouse development.
A QUICK RESPONSE
But last night, the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) issued a quick response to Mr. Shaw's comments.
The UDC, which has project management responsibilities for the resort develpment, said Mr. Shaw's presentation contained "grossly inaccurate and misleading statements" on the project.
"Project management fees for the life of the project and inclusive of related site staffing component totaled $46 million and not between J$130 million and J$190 million as stated by Mr. Shaw," the UDC said in a press statement last night.
The UDC also said the initial construction estimate stood at US$73.5 million and only US$25 million was sought through a Government loan guarantee.
"There is corruption unspeakable in our land, and if the country does not unite to fight it, people will continue to die for want of basic health care," Shaw argued yesterday.
