ROAD TOWN, Tortola, April 16, 2011 - Members of the Talk Show Alliance threaten to do “whatever it takes” in blocking the passage of any measure to legitimize the contract through the House of Assembly.
The group also came up empty handed following its meeting with the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office Chief Colin Roberts, after discussing its dissatisfaction with the Government’s Biwater contract to fix the water and sewerage crisis on the main island of Tortola. The same Talk Show Alliance along with the Opposition National Democratic Party (NDP) had requested that Governor Boyd McCleary set up a Commission of Inquiry into the Biwater project.
The Governor said he found no legitimate reasons to conduct such an inquiry. His decision was fully supported by the FCO’s Roberts.
Tuesday April 19 sitting
According to the Order Paper of the Sixth Sitting of the Fourth Session of the first House of Assembly (HOA), the NDP Opposition Leader Dr. the Honourable D. Orlando Smith, has some 15 questions on the order paper for Government front bench Ministers.
Of course as the election gets closer, the Opposition in Parliament will try their best to seek political points. One of the questions on the order paper has to do with the leaked letter from the FCO on the Biwater project.
Dr. Smith is to ask the Premier “having read to the public the letter from the Director of Overseas Territories, which indicated that the Biwater contract represents a contingent liability for the VI Government, would the Honorable Premier please assure this Honourable House that he has met the request of the Director to have this liability recognized and correctly accounted for?”
Among the other many questions to be asked by Smith, they range from the BUPA Insurance contract for civil servants, changes to the payroll tax, status of the Greenland field, improvements of the Nurse Iris O’Neal clinic in Virgin Gorda and work permit exemptions.
The Leader of the Opposition will also seek answers on water issues, airplane registry, road repairs, cost of the Sea Cows Bay sidewalk and wall projects, up-date on the Biwater contract and street lights for Virgin Gorda between the Valley and North Sound.
The HOA business also includes the laying of many Department’s Annual Reports on the table of the House along with the first reading of a few new bills as well as the second and third reading of the Dormant Accounts, Act, 2011.
The House of Assembly meeting is usually carried live on local radio and TV stations. VINO will be the first and the place for your full HOA coverage.
Article taken from Virgin Islands News Online - http://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com
British Virgin Islands News