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STATES OF JERSEY
SCRAP METAL CONTRACT: APPROVAL BY STATES ASSEMBLY
Lodged au Greffe on 25th June 2012 by Deputy G.C.L. Baudains of St. Clement
STATES GREFFE
2012 Price code: A P.66
PROPOSITION
THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion
to request the Minister for Transport and Technical Services to take no steps to award a new contract for the processing of scrap metal until the details of any proposed new contract have been discussed and approved by the States Assembly.
DEPUTY G.C.L. BAUDAINS OF ST. CLEMENT
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P.66/2012
REPORT
Until the Minister for Transport and Technical Services has explained fully to States members not only his reasons for putting Jersey's scrap metal operation out to tender but how the whole process has been managed, the information and speculation currently circulating about this matter will, in my view, end up generating a cloud of suspicion over the whole affair that will linger long after any contract has been awarded.
It is alleged the present operators (who, it must be said, appear to have done a good job over the years) were rejected at the very early stage of expressing an interest. It is alleged the Department is short-listing firms with no experience of scrap metal recycling and some who are not locally based. This has the hallmark of a Department anxious to remove an incumbent at all costs.
If this is the case, members are entitled to know why – especially given the record of this particular Department. I recall the bus debacle when it appeared the Public Services Department (now TTS) were anxious to get rid of the JMT. I served on the Public Services Committee at the time, and I was not the only committee member to have doubts about the motives of the Department. For instance I recall the Department telling us that the JMT refused to allow access to its accounts, yet Mr. Lewis of the JMT had invited me (and others) to attend his offices and look at any accounts I wished to see – an offer I duly took up.
Then there was TTS's incinerator decision. Shadow Scrutiny spent a year reviewing Waste Management – with specific regard to replacement of the Bellozanne incinerator – and the production of a comprehensive Report on the issue. Our work was made harder because some of the information given to us by Officers was either misleading or simply untrue. Needless to say the Report was dismissed by both the Department and the Minister. Worse than that, there was a similarity to the situation now emerging regarding the scrap metal franchise. One of the largest solid waste treatment firms in the world were, at the expression of interest stage, told by the TTS Department not to bother to tender. I still have in my office their offer of building a modern waste facility for £60 million or, should we want an old-fashioned and now out-of-date plant of the type many are discarding (the type we have purchased for over £100 million) for an all-inclusive price of £66 million.
Why would the Department steer towards an obsolete type of plant and turn away a major manufacturer who would have supplied it at a saving of £40 million? Why is the Minister or his Department turning away our present scrap metal operator and leaning towards an unknown entity?
In my view these issues need to be debated openly and States members given the opportunity to have input as to who delivers this service for Jersey in the years to come.
Financial and manpower implications
There are no manpower implications for my proposal and, as far as I am aware, no financial ones either.
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