Premier refutes Penn’s ‘no money’ claims on WE ferry terminal
Premier Andrew Fahie has rebutted claims that his government has no access to the necessary funding to execute the West End ferry terminal development project.
Fahie, while speaking at a community meeting in the Seventh Electoral District on Wednesday evening, said the money had already been included in a Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) loan acquired by the previous National Democratic Party (NDP) government.
The Premier’s statement came in response to a claim by Opposition Leader Marlon Penn on the NDP radio programme earlier this week.
“I can’t believe that someone could get up and tell the people that the money for the West End ferry project is not available,” the Premier said.
“As a matter of fact, you the people need to know that the CDB money was there sitting without nothing happening to it. We didn’t get the loan, that was gotten by the last administration, I thank them for it,” he added.
The Premier claimed that members of the previous administration were not getting along and therefore couldn’t move the money forward for needed projects.
“So, it sat there and generated interest of over $300,000 that you paid back and even didn’t know,” he continued.
The Premier said when his party first entered office, officials from the CDB visited and informed them that they needed to make some decisions about the loan that had been accruing interest all along.
He further related that there was already a list of projects in place that required much more than the $65 million CDB loan funds could have covered.
According to Premier Fahie, it was at this point that his administration sat together as a group and decided on a list of priority projects that needed to be executed for the territory.
“People asking what the At-Large [Representatives] do. We stop you from paying more interest in a loan where you receive without getting anything out of it,” he said.
The Premier’s statement came in response to a claim by Opposition Leader Marlon Penn on the NDP radio programme earlier this week.
“I can’t believe that someone could get up and tell the people that the money for the West End ferry project is not available,” the Premier said.
“As a matter of fact, you the people need to know that the CDB money was there sitting without nothing happening to it. We didn’t get the loan, that was gotten by the last administration, I thank them for it,” he added.
The Premier claimed that members of the previous administration were not getting along and therefore couldn’t move the money forward for needed projects.
“So, it sat there and generated interest of over $300,000 that you paid back and even didn’t know,” he continued.
The Premier said when his party first entered office, officials from the CDB visited and informed them that they needed to make some decisions about the loan that had been accruing interest all along.
He further related that there was already a list of projects in place that required much more than the $65 million CDB loan funds could have covered.
According to Premier Fahie, it was at this point that his administration sat together as a group and decided on a list of priority projects that needed to be executed for the territory.
“People asking what the At-Large [Representatives] do. We stop you from paying more interest in a loan where you receive without getting anything out of it,” he said.
