Still negotiating with UK; 6 approved for recovery board
Premier and Minister of Finance Dr D Orlando Smith
While stating that negotiations with the United Kingdom are ongoing, Premier Dr D Orlando Smith said six persons have been approved for appointment to the Recovery Agency Board, so far.
Robert Mathavious has been confirmed as chairman, while other approved members are Virgin Islands Party supporter, Sharie DeCastro; Pastor Gregory George; Clarence Faulkner; Maria Mays, and Claude Lettsome.
Premier Smith made the announcement in the House of Assembly on Thursday, April 26.
“We are grateful to the named individuals for agreeing to take on this very important responsibility and look forward to the exemplary execution with their duties under the Agency Act,” Dr Smith said.
Still negotiating
The Recovery Agency Act passed in parliament a month ago and means the BVI has accepted the United Kingdom’s loan guarantee of £300 million as well as the accompanying conditions.
“My government continues to [hold] negotiations with the United Kingdom to strengthen the terms of the loan guarantee,” Premier Smith said.
The Agency will have full control over how recovery funds are spent.
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Do any of these folks have the experience/education running a large company with 300M of revenue stream. You need people that know how to negotiate to get the best prices for what you want done. It is also very important to have people that know what they need to purchase/accomplish.
People: THEY BETTER MAKE SURE IT’S OUR PEOPLE ON THAT BOARD!
Premier: The Chairman and others appointed thus far are locals!
People: WHAT? WHAT EXPERIENCE DO THESE PEOPLE HAVE? (FILL IN THE BLANK OF USUAL SELF-HATING BS_________________________).
The agency is NOT a body unto its own, but rather a body that will consider all things and make certain decisions based on that. The Government, Ministries, Architects, Engineers etc. will all be involved, along with the lending agencies having their own project management and oversight involved as well. It’s time to move forward!!
They just ditched the guy who has all the experience we need and much more.
He is here working in a charity capacity and had everything lined up for quick effective results, plus sensible long term solutions, but for some reason they refused him the position.
The man has decades of recovery and nation building experience all over the world and a whole mountain of solutions waiting to be implemented – but he is a Branson contact, he is white, a UK citizen, and clearly those behind the scenes didn’t want his expertise.
So now we choose have things done by our own inexperienced selves (no offence to those on the board but do they have the experience? No.) than lose pride by letting someone with experience help steer our ship.
Welcome to amateur hour!
You always quick to talk. No one put anyone on the side. This is the Board. There will also be an agency for the operations side. So sick of your negativity.
That’s correct. We do not want him. We already have a Premier. It will do him good to learn his place. The next time he’d know to learn a people and understand their culture before overstepping.
I couldn’t put it better; look at the issues the cruise ships are raising; which are actually at the basic end of what needs to be done; but they proved too much for our administration in 7 months. Stand by for the exodus.
We don’t care if he has experience, we just don’t want no white man reminding us of the past. We must learn to do things ourselves with pride and dignity in building our country. Let them johnny come lately, go fix Europe that they have already broken. Thanks, but no thank you.
mannnn…. I really sick of you people now. Every damn thing is a complaint. the first fri>>ing blog is a complaint. Can’t you guys be positive for once. Like you guys are there just waiting to be negative on every damn story. SMH
WHY WAS MISS DECASTRO SINGLED OUT AS A VIP SUPPORTER ARE THE REST OF THEM NDP’S ????
She actually ran with the VIP or did you forget? None of the others have run for office with the NDP.
Majority NDP cronies
Poor LEADERSHIP will only result in a wrong direction.
Who Gregory George hope not that pastor from vg
Is him
Is this going to be a full time job and will they be paid?
The Chairman now controls 85% of the cash coming into the territory. All Company’s registry income and RA loans. Very poor Governance structure which can not bode well for the future. Friends could become very rich! Opportunity missed with conflict.
Robert Mathavious can be Premier or Governor of this Territory any day if you ask me. He knows what good governance is and has a demonstrated record of such time and time again.
So does this mean Anegada will become a shipping port at long last?!?
The people of this country are just been hoodwinked and blind sided on all angles. You keep coming back to the same two-headed mo—- why wasn’t someone from the UK put to chair this board.
It is a disturbing thing that this government is allowed by the UK to remain in power after such no confidence.
It is alleged that they are employees at the Port Authority receiving half salary and up to now to explanation have been given to the public why is this so. And look at the board all politics on both sides.
Shut the front door!!!
Agree with another poster – where are the business people, People like Colin O’Neal or Mr Harney? the people who will make things happen and not just rubber stamp what some one says. Very disappointed. The whole point of this board is to make sure that the money is spent with the best value for the buck. The minister who voted NO is going to come out of this mess smelling of roses.
We are now playing with this country ability to recover given the appointees defined insofar to serve on the Recovery & Development Agency. This new regulatory regime should sought highly qualified individuals to ensure:
1.Acceptable quality of project
2. Quality public service
3. Within budget or saving money in construction
and operation
4. On-time or earlier project completion
5. Satisfying the need for public facilities
6. Provide timelier and more convenient service for society
7. Solving the problem of public sector budget restraint
8. Life-cycle cost reduction
9. Introducing business and profit generating skills to the public sector
10. Transferring risk to private sector
11. Making profit from public service
12. Promoting local economic development
13. Improving technology level or gaining technology transfer
14. Public sector can acquire additional facilities/service beyond requirement from private sector
15. Private sector can earn government sponsorship, guarantee, and tax reduction
So I am actually struggling with the actors defined so far, this agency is already filled with:
1. Group Think leading to collusion, judgement bias; political over steering; nepotism; escalation and de-escalation; etc.
In a nut shell I can foresee the exchanges will be very mechanistic with a lack of early and collaborative involvement of key stakeholders due to a fragmented, cost allocated and deterministic political/individualistic managers driven systems approach leading to astronomical cost overruns, scope creeps, time delays, etc.
We need people on this board who are capable of bridging a very comprehensive supply chain.
How many people are on the Board? What is the purpose of the Board? What are the qualifications for being selected as a member of the Board? Is project management experience a. core competency for being a member on the Board? Will members of the Board be paid? And if so how much? From what fund will they be paid? Will they be paid from the £300M. How many reps will the UK have on the Board? What will be the criteria for evaluating, prioritizing, and selecting projects? Will the Board operations be independent of government? Is the Board an alternative government? Why only Sheri DeCastro political leanings were identified? Does this mean that the other members are NDP supporters? Is Sheri a token rep?
This Board so far looks like another NDP bubble waiting to burst. Same old recycled NDP names and faces and p—-s for LS the real Premiere of the BVI.
This has got to be a Joke!!! NDP Hacks….
Hurricanes going come and go again before this money is utilized. What a shame!
Will persons who lost everything in the storms be given help like homeowners are? Persons that were renting, couldn’t afford to buy or build a home, living paycheck to paycheck, will those be helped or left in the dust to start all over again?