Government can keep the Baughers Bay water plant, but it owes former owner-operator Ocean Conversion-BVI $5 million in outstanding fees, according to a ruling from the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court of Appeal on Wednesday.
Government officials have not yet said if they will appeal this ruling to the Privy Council.
“We don’t know if it’s over,” said Glenn Harrigan, OC-BVI president. “We have to wait to see government’s position.”
Assuming there is no challenge, the fees would be paid from government’s cash-on-hand fund, said Financial Secretary Neil Smith.
The two parties have been in court since 2006, but their conflict goes back at least until 2000, when government and OC-BVI met to discuss whether their original purchase agreement, which was to last seven years with an option to extend for an additional seven, had been extended or had ended. If the parties opted for the shorter contract, government would pay for the plant, but if they chose the longer contract, government would assume ownership of the plant without having to pay anything more than the water bill.
Government and OC-BVI “agreed to disagree” on the extension, but parted ways with the agreement that they would work on a new contract. A new contract was never completed, however, and the disagreements piled up.
See the April 26, 2012 edition for full coverage.