Last year was a transformative year for the Public Works Department, wrote department Director Jeffrey Skelton in the introduction to his 2013 departmental annual report.
The 224-person department, which is responsible for building and maintaining much of the territory’s infrastructure, was able to begin to tackle some longstanding issues last year, according to the report. Chief among them were “the structural and spacing challenges” within PWD facilities; issues with employee salaries; and the “hazardous working conditions experienced by some staff members,” the report states.
“It is noteworthy to mention the increased job performance delivered by PWD employees during 2013, and I believe it can be attributed in part to the transformation that we have begun in the department,” Mr. Skelton wrote.
He went on to write that he hopes “that by the end of 2014 we would have addressed a number of the workplace and human resource issues and hopefully received positive feedback from all stakeholders.”
Thirty-three petty contracts were issued by the department in 2013 at a cost of $938,597 for projects like paving, earthworks, retaining walls and drainage culverts, the report states.
Below is a listing of how that amount was spread throughout the territory’s electoral districts. The five districts with the highest spending are represented by the National Democratic Party, which currently leads the government.
District Amount spent
6 $278,021
4 $176,163
5 $168,396
8 $128,706
7 $93,999
3 $65,998
1 $0
9 $0
Source: PWD 2013 annual report
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