PM: Beaches and Parks expenditure increased by nearly 150%

Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis said the projected expenditure at the Bahamas Public Parks and Beaches Authority shot up by nearly 150 percent, adding that the escalation coincided with electioneering.

“I would be remiss if I do not speak about the Bahamas Public Parks and Beaches Authority,” Davis said as he led debate on the supplementary budget in the House of Assembly. 

“In the 2021/22 fiscal year, it had an approved budget of $15.2 million. After contingencies, its total budget was around $28 million, an increase of 86 percent against budget. An increase that coincided with electioneering.

“I am now told that because of new contracts issued in the months of July, August and September of this year, the projected expenditure of the Authority for this fiscal year is $37 million. That’s an increase of almost 150 percent against the budgeted amount and in dollars, it’s an increase of 22 million dollars.

“I want that to sink in for a moment. I also want it to sink in that a number of these contracts were awarded to clean middle and high-end subdivisions, like Blair and Westridge, to name a few. The member for St. Barnabas will undoubtedly have a lot of explaining to do.

Davis said as of September 30, 2021 after only four months into the fiscal budget the authority had already utilized almost 60 percent of its budget for the entire year.

Davis comments on the matter came two weeks after Minister of Works and Utilities Alfred Sears said in Parliament that there was a “rash of contracts” issued by the Bahamas Public Parks and Public Beaches Authority shortly after the general election was called. Sears said many of the contracts were also issued without board approval and some were duplicated. 

But former executive chairman of the authority, St. Barnabas MP Shanendon Cartwright, defended his tenure, saying there was nothing sinister about the duplication of contracts and that there was no “mad rush” of contracts issued before the September 16 general election. 

Regarding the issuance of contracts before the election, he said, “these contracts were already in train”.

“After August 19, the process still had to be completed,” Cartwright said. 

“So, it was not a deluge or a mad rush, not to suggest, honorable member, that you said that, I’m just trying to bring clarification. There was not a mad rush to assign contracts in the lead-up to an election. However, there were contracts in train prior to the calling of the election. I think that is very, very important to establish.”

Cartwright said the authority did its best to ensure that it met the needs of every member of Parliament. 

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/pm-beaches-and-parks-expenditure-increased-by-nearly-150/