Everything at RDA transparent and above board — McMaster
The Recovery & Development Agency (RDA) has sought to set the record straight regarding the costs for some of its projects after concerns were raised recently over whether value for money was being achieved by the entity.
After the RDA awarded a contract for the Jost Van Dyke (JVD) Primary School reconstruction project late last month for more than $4 million, Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley was asked about some of the astronomical project sums awarded to contractors by the agency.
Premier Wheatley assured reporters at the time that officials of the RDA would be made available for explanations to the public.
Following that promise, CEO of the RDA, Anthony McMaster, appeared in a video on the entity’s social media pages and said everything that was being done at the Agency was done in a procedural manner that allows for checks and balances.
“Despite the conversations about the potential cost at the moment, I want us to not stress about the cost, but stress about what is the end product that is expected,” McMaster said of the JVD project.
He explained that while a bag of flour may cost about $2.50 on Tortola, once it reaches one of the sister islands, the cost may escalate to as much is $3.50 or more.
“Just the concept of development on the sister islands is very much more expensive than on Tortola itself,” McMaster related.
He continued: “Sometimes I know we hear figures, and we don’t think about everything that’s aligned with those figures, and where the figures came from. But what I can assure you, is that at the RDA, everything is done in a process where it’s transparent and above board.”
The CEO explained that all of the agency’s processes are laid out and noted that each process goes through a step-by-step check and balance.
No figures from the sky
McMaster, further said all of the RDA’s projects are competitively bid.
“So it is not a case where anyone from the RDA or the RDA board, or even the government can say ‘well, this is the contractor that we’re going to use for this particular project’. No, at the RDA all of our projects are tendered, they are publicly tendered, the tenders are submitted, they are publicly opened and all of the figures are stated right there in the public domain so each person who has an interest can know what the bids were that were actually received,” the CEO said.
McMaster said figures for RDA projects are not just numbers that someone ‘pulled out of the sky’.
“These contractors are competing for jobs, so when the figures come in, we feel assured at the RDA, that we are in fact, getting value for money, because in addition to what the contractors produce, the consultants that we work with, they also have to produce estimates,” he stated.
New opportunities available
In the meantime, McMaster reminded the public that the end product of the reconstruction on Jost Van Dyke will not simply be used for the primary school in the area. He said it will be a multipurpose educational facility.
“Most of us know it as the Jost Van Dyke Primary School, but it’s not just classrooms, it’s a lot more than classrooms,” McMaster said.
He noted that there will be facilities for community meetings as well as a space for a resource centre. With the technology available at the location, McMaster said even persons doing programmes at the H Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) on Tortola would be able to benefit from the facility.
McMaster added that the project opens a whole gamut of new opportunities for residents of the JVD community.
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MY FISH DONT STINK AND THEY DONT POISON
4.3 million dollars for a school jost van dyke is above ridiculous
It can be transpatent and WRONG. Over budgeted projects might be legal but they are wrong. The money still comes as kickback as donations or other services.
To be fair… If a perimeter fence can cost over a million dollars a whole school for 4.3 is cheap ?
I don’t belive it at all.
Why was a A/C contract given for the sports complex at twice the price of the other bid because it was said that the lower bid put their amount in figures only and not in words as required. They should have been allowed to resubmit the bid if all was fair and above board.
There are no dimensions mentioned for either wall or school so your comment really makes no sense.
If students on Jost Van Dyke and other Sister Islands can access HLSCC courses and other programmes using technology, why is it, Minister of Health or Minister of Education (not sure which ministry this entity falls under now because of the back and forth over the years) that the inmates of Balsam Ghut cannot have the same access?
There are certificate programmes for those inmates who are outdoor type:
*construction
*surveying
*marine
or
computer or indoor type:
*technical drafting
*AUTOCAD
*Electronics and Electricity
*Project Management
*Business and Entrepreneurship
I know for a fact that one well-known local philanthropist contributed some warm dollars for the inmates to attend HLSCC and HLSCC did try to implement the programme, but factions found endless excuses, citing lack of security personnel and other things for those inmates who need to be secured in the prison classrooms. NONSENSE!
Mr. Edward Frett, retired Superintendent of Prisons, is turning over in his grave because of the actions of those who have the power to make changes at Ministerial and Departmental levels and have undermined all of the programmes over the last decade that he put in place when he was alive:
*education classes
*farming (chickens, eggs, herbs, ground
provisions, vegetables)
*woodwork shop, to name a few
Some programmes still exist but not even as robust to the levels in the past where they generated benefits to both government and the inmates welfare.
Please stop it! NO MORE EXCUSES, please….!
THE INFRASTRUCTURE IS AVAILABLE:
*phone connections
*internet
*smart boards
*computers and
*lots of govt land for the building in the *vicinity of the Prison; and
WILLING CONTRIBUTORS WAITING TO GET ON BOARD TO:
*donate equipment
*furniture
*building materials for a building
*school supplies and
*volunteer on site tutoring.
ALL NEEDED FROM GOVERNMENT ARE:
*the land
*security personnel and
*the WILL to JUST DO IT!! We are waiting!!!!
WE NEED TO REHABILITATE THESE YOUNG MEN who are very smart and astute business men (because of the product they market and why some of them are up there) but need to be involved in that part of the economy that fuel tourism and financial services.
Other jobs or businesses in the tourism industry or support to it or even to the residential population:
*transportation services
*car rental
*boat charters
*farming / agriculture with petting zoo and
*chef / bartender / wait service
*fishing
*marine tours
*land tours
*auto mechanics
*car detailing
*boat captain / skipper
*marine mechanic
*boat repairer and rigger
The outcome of this focus would be:
*an improved society because of the rehabilitation
of the young men
*additional persons now contributing to the tax
base of government revenues
*increased legitimate economic activity
*some reduction of social ills
*improvement in the “father figure” role of those
rehabilitated men who have children, to name a
few
Eventually a BETTER COMMUNITY, A BETTER SOCIETY,
A BETTER VIRGIN ISLANDS.
Thank you, if this is proof of the dirty deeds at RDA then we are all fools. This RDA is nothing more than an extension of the Fahie VIP govt
What about your * * officer using inside information to award her Vincentian man and herself contracts?
So a 1 Million Dollar contract for the Elevator in the Admin Building was value for money. ROFLMAO
Wha you mean… Everybody knows what we really needed was a new elevator lobby for the admin complex… It ain’t cheese if it’s less than a mill!!
the Kiwi was cheaper to get a good job done at a fair price..