But Opposition Leader, former Premier Reuben Meade has concerns about transparency
Former Premier, Reuben T Meade
by Bennette Roach
It can be seen as if recent Premier Reuben T Meade is attempting to make up for his years of rebuke of Premier Donaldson Romeo when he informed that he has written to the Governor seeking answers about land transactions concerning the site for the construction of a third Geothermal Well.
The Opposition Leader Ruben Meade’s is expressing concern surrounding negotiations between the government and land owners regarding the sale of the land named as the sure site under which geothermal energy exists in significant quantify, for a needed third well in the Weekes area.
Lands below bluff at bottom right of photo – off to the right of 2nd Well
In a recent opposition broadcast radio program after being called upon to be transparent during his recent tenure as the first Premier he is calling for the negotiation process to be transparent.
“I’m not going to go into the cost of the land because I’ve written to the governor already raising my objection, because anytime your find that the proper systems are not followed and you’re trying to do things which are not correct we will fight it, because there has to be transparency and there has to be good governance,” he said, driving his point, “and the governor is responsible for ensuring that there’s good governance, so she has an obligation to respond to the request of the leader of the opposition.”
It became difficult for anyone knowing the history of the previous government’s record to understand when the ex-Premier said, “We cannot wait until a deal has been signed,” as he then demands, “ tell the people what the deal is going to be. Let people have an objection, and if they so wish or have a discussion on it, and you must follow the appropriate procedures for buying land with taxpayers’ money,” he declared.
The Opposition Leader had raised the matter in the Legislative Assembly the week before, but Minister of Communications and Works Paul Lewis said negotiations with the land owners
Comms & Works Minister Paul Lewis
are ongoing and it would not have been prudent to give too many details, Lewis promised to give more information “once talk have been concluded.”
Meanwhile DFID representative on island Martin Dawson reported that an agreement was reached with the land owners although he declined to give a figure on how much it would cost the government.
“We’ve obviously, I would say, had to pay a little bit higher premium than would have been expected, but it’s all part of the process and we have obviously reached a compromise with the landowners,” he said.
He explained. “I think it is a fair price considering you know what we will be doing in that area and the potential use of the land and also bearing in mind as Ron Beardsley said, at some stage we will be moving to the next phase which is regarding surface works and a plant being built,” noting, “so I think that that’s all I will say on that if that’s ok.”
He was obviously pressed when he said further: “I can understand that will be interesting that! I think the process of the finalization on the land is being secured now as we speak. It will probably be inappropriate for me to talk about figures, but I think the general feeling from the groups that are involved in this process for us from Government, from DFID side, is that we’ve reached a compromise, we’ve reached a satisfactory price and let’s proceed,” with somewhat of a lament, “the important thing now is to move ahead with the drilling.”
