The National Democratic Party will fight the Biwater contract “tooth and nail” whether NDP members are the government or the opposition, election candidates said Monday evening on the party’s radio programme.
“If I’m elected, this Biwater contract will be tackled from day one,” said Mark Vanterpool, a candidate for the Fourth District.
Biwater and Virgin Islands government officials held a press conference last week to announce that all the “conditions precedent” — items to be completed before the contract would take effect — had been completed. When the contract was signed, both parties agreed that it could be terminated by either side if the conditions were not met by August 2010. They weren’t, but neither Biwater nor the government wanted to terminate the contract, said Arlene Smith-Thompson, acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Communications and Works, at last week’s press conference.
Premier Ralph O’Neal and Communications and Works Minister Julian Fraser have maintained that the Biwater deal is a good value for money and the best solution to the territory’s water and sewage woes.
But on Monday evening NDP members repeated their ongoing call for more openness in the Biwater contract, which was signed behind closed doors in February 2010 and was awarded without the usual bidding process.
“All the documents that seem to be in secret somewhere need to be reviewed,” Mr. Vanterpool said Monday evening.
See the July 21, 2011 edition for full coverage.