Some COI-inspired laws need to be changed
Deputy Premier Julian Fraser has called for key legislation introduced in the wake of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) to be revisited, arguing that some measures are now slowing development in the BVI.
Fraser made the remarks during a recent debate commemorating the lifting of the Order in Council, a move widely seen as restoring greater local autonomy following years of reforms. The COI had ordered a slew of laws which elected leaders have said have prevented them from helping their constituents the way they’d like to. The Procurement Act is one of the key laws that leaders have said have hindered the overhauling of the water infrastructure and other important projects in the territory.
“The procurement process has done us no good and continues to derail the progress of development in the country,” Fraser said, pointing to what he described as inefficiencies in how government projects are now executed.
RDA completing projects way faster than gov’t
He contrasted the pace of central government projects with those undertaken by the Recovery and Development Agency, noting that the agency is often able to complete works “in less than half the time” it takes the government. While stressing that there is “nothing wrong with that,” Fraser suggested the disparity highlights deeper structural problems.
According to the Deputy Premier, some of the very laws designed to improve transparency and accountability after the COI may now be hindering efficiency. He specifically identified the Procurement Act and the Crown Lands Management Act as pieces of legislation that should be brought back to the House of Assembly for review and adjustment.
And amid criticism that the government has been using favouritism to give small contracts to companies they are allegedly connected to, Fraser pushed back against claims about “contract splitting.”
He said there is no such arrangement in the awarding of contracts, arguing that critics often misunderstand how projects are executed.
“You don’t split a contract… you split a project,” he explained, adding that dividing large projects into smaller components can improve efficiency and allow broader participation. “What could be wrong with that? It’s what you call getting people involved, being efficient.”
The veteran legislator warned that without flexibility in how projects are structured and executed, the government risks being unable to deliver development at the pace citizens expect. The comments come at a pivotal moment for the territory, as leaders reflect on governance reforms implemented under UK oversight while also signalling a desire to refine those systems now that the immediate threat of direct rule has passed.
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It’s not splitting a contract it’s splitting a project, guys come on what’s wrong with that it’s common sense….
Why give one quite simple job to one company? That would only get me one set of votes in the next election…
Instead I could divide that job in to five or six separate unnecessary components , give five or six separate contracts to five or six separate groups of my friends, it doesn’t matter if half of them don’t know what they’re doing because then I’m getting five or six times the votes I would’ve done and my friends are all better off!
By the way, the RDA is moving too fast and is actually threatening to give work to people who know what they’re doing… surely that can’t be right, we need to get this before the HOA immediately, it makes us look like we don’t know what we’re doing!!
More mouths will be fed
To the good old days pass the cookie jar!
They slowed the pace of the country’s growth with bureaucracy and red tape.
So the Order in Council is lifted and within 10 days he wants to go back to the old ways. Yes let’s build a wall again with 70 different contractors shall we that’s a great way to do business. We need fresh faces in the Government who actually understand how to take us forward.
The question is where the hell do we find them and not just find them, find fresh, new faces that can get the job done. Politics has become some polarized and ugly, that will be difficult. You will find them young, educated and green, needing at least three years to learn the ropes, if at all.
We are clean out of time to deal with trainees. We will soon have to park on the east of some of these pot holes and walk west. Vote sensibly. Voting matters. I beg ah yo.
As predicted. After the Order in Council from the COI was lifted the old f**l just wants to go to how things were.
Fraser is and always has been the most dangerouse man in the VI for the welfare of the people and land of the VI.
Like any good politician, he wants a return to the spoils system. The same spoils system got us the Hon.Mr. Brewley’s notorious wall at the high school.
It’s an abuse of transparency. It’s an abuse of rate payers.
WAS BOUGHT BY THE BLACK SLAVE MASTER TO DO A JOB ! AND THE HOUSE NIGGAH IS JUST DOING THE BEST THING THAT HE HAS ACHIEVED FOR ALL THE YEARS HE HAS BEEN IN POLITICS AND THAT IS “TARKIN SH*T ” / AND HE HAS DEMONSTRATED IT BY HOLLERING OUT ABOUT THE LUXURY OF TRAVELING ON TAXPAYERS MONEY ABOUT HOW WONDERFUL IT IS ( MASTER DIDN’T LIKE VYHST , BECAUSE IT BROUGNT ATTENTION TO WHAT THE PEOPLE WAS SAYING ABOUT THIS ” TRAVELING ALL OVER THE GLOBE AND NOTHING TO SHOW EXCEPT THE PLEASURE OF ENJOYING THE GOOD TIMES \ LETS HOPE THEM BOYZ DON’T DIP THEIR DIRTY HANDS INTO OUR SOCIAL SECURITY MONEY AGAIN , ON THE STREET TODAY IS THAT PEOPLE IS WONDERING IF THT GINE GET THEIR .MONEY TO BUY THEIR GROCERIES AND PAY THEIR BILLS / HOUSE RENT GORNE THROUGH THE ROOF WITH THESE WICKED & GREEDY LANDLORDS /\\_ JAWS AIN’T GOT NOTHING ON THESE SET OF SHARKS ( TRUMP WOULD LOVE TO HAVE THESE DEVIL ANGRLS TO WORK FOR HIM •
From Frazer to willock