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Minister of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy, Kirk Humphrey, right, tours the Bridgetown Port accompanied by CEO of Barbados Port Inc., David Jean Marie, and Permanent Secretary, Esworth Reid.

Port Review

Several contracts issued by the former Democratic Labour Party administration regarding the Bridgetown Port are currently under review.

That is according to Minister of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy, Kirk Humphrey, as he took an extensive tour of the facility yesterday.

Insisting that this examination was not part of any “witch hunt”, he noted that with these contracts totalling hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, it is necessary to safeguard the interest of Barbadians.

The agreements under review by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Dale Marshall, include all of those made over the last few years, including those to construct Berth Five and Six.

“There is a contract signed with Berth Five Projects Inc., I think is the name, for almost $60 million. There are contracts for Berth Six, which will be about $190 million. It is not our intention to have a witch-hunt on anybody, but of course as a government you want to review those contracts, especially when those contracts are so significant and to make sure that the interest of Barbadians was maintained in the execution of all of these contracts,” he said.

Humphrey stated that so far he was pleased with what had been seen in terms of the improvement work carried out at the port, and revealed that a new board should be constituted by the end of next week.

“Then we will sit down and finalise how the port operates and make it the most efficient port that there is. All that is done and all that we are doing here is just to ensure that whatever happens at the port is to ensure that Barbadians get the best deal possible for Barbadians and to make sure that nothing happens that is untoward toward the interest of Barbadians,” he added, as he assured citizens that they would be kept abreast if any issues arose from those contracts.

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