Contracts to be renegotiated

Contracts with unfair terms for the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) and the Sanitation Service Authority are to be renegotiated.

In her first address to the Barbados Labour Party’s Annual General Conference since its historic win on May 24, Prime Minister Mia Mottley outlined her intention to deal with contracts which were not arranged with the national interest in mind under the former Democratic Labour Party administration.

“We have come to the point where these contracts cannot be accepted. I spoke to you earlier and told you we are paying one million dollars a month effectively for a (BWA headquarters) building and a lease and for those who say I know the people, I know them, but I know everybody across Barbados too and nobody must ever get confused with friendship and duty, and nobody must ever get confused with contribution and ownership. This woman here will not be held hostage to anybody or by anybody,” she said.

In a wide-ranging speech, she pointed out that her administration was making headway with the areas it highlighted as priority within its first six months including repealing the National Social Responsibility Levy and Road Tax, removing tax clearance certificates, giving a five per cent increase on public sector wages and shoring up the island’s foreign reserves.

On the topic of sewage, Mottley told those gathered at the Lodge School in
St. John that the government was having discussions with international partners to address the problem with a long-term solution.

“I have asked the minister that there have been some smells and told him to talk to the country and tell them why. Tell them that in the cleaning of the Graeme Hall swamp, all of which is done on the eastern side by the Ministry of Health for one sixth of the cost that it would have cost if we went to the private sector; talk to them to explain that if you start to destabilise and move the earth that has been compacted, that of necessity you will get some odours, but also tell the people that with the use of technology, you have been able to find some breaches and you have been able too start to fix them,” she stressed. (JMB)