NDP Questions Admin Complex Rehabilitation Spending
A whopping $40 million has been allocated to rehabilitate the R. T. O’Neal Administration Complex so far, yet the building remains unfinished, according to Second District Representative Melvin “Mitch” Turnbull.
A whopping $40 million has been allocated to rehabilitate the R. O’Neal Administration Complex so far, yet the building remains unfinished, according to Second District Representative Melvin “Mitch” Turnbull. Speaking on the National Democratic Party’s (NDP) radio programme on November 4, Turnbull said he became aware of the cumulative figure during a review the previous week.
He distinguished the allocations and pledges from money actually spent. “Since 2017, the allocations, not the money that was actually spent but the amount of money that was put towards the executing of the reopen of the Admin Complex so far is about $40 million. When I look at the numbers and we went through this exercise last week," he said.
Adding, "when you look at the numbers from 2017 to how much, the number our money from 2019, the government has pledged, we are about $40 million and still, we're yet a state of when we can move into that complex." He argued that the prolonged closure raised questions about the Government’s management of the project. “I think the more we are digging into this question, we realize we have a problem with the mismanagement of the funds,” he stated.
Turnbull criticised what he described as the Government’s insistence on completing the entire complex before returning departments to the building. He said Opposition members Marlon Penn, Ronnie Skelton, Myron Walwyn and himself had proposed reopening it in stages. “All you have to do is fix a particular area.
You start one base move in a government department, and then you continue down the road,” he said. Turnbull contended that repeated funding commitments had failed to deliver a reopening and argued that an NDP administration would restore the Government’s central operations at the complex.
The building has remained closed since Hurricane Irma forced government offices out in September 2017. Premier and Minister of Finance Dr Natalio Wheatley announced a $7 million allocation for its reopening in his 2027 Budget Address, although he did not specify a reopening date. The delays have also carried rental costs.
Wheatley recently told the House of Assembly that the Government had spent approximately $18.4 million on rent since August 2017, while Minister for Communications and Works Kye Rymer said tenders for works at the complex were before Cabinet for approval.
Primary source: BVI Platinum