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1240/5(2038)
QUESTION TO BE ASKED OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE POLICY AND RESOURCES COMMITTEE ON TUESDAY 20th JANUARY 2004, BY SENATOR E.P. VIBERT
Question
Would the President inform members of the latest position regarding the development of the Waterfront Hotel project and whether the relevant contractor will commence work during January this year as he stated in answer to questions on 10th June 2003, and ,if not, whether the Committee will be issuing a deadline for the commencement of work, failing which, will the project be subject to a new tender process?
Answer
In response to this question, I should make it clear that on 10th June 2003, the President did not state in his answer to the question from Senator E. Vibert that work on the Waterfront Hotel would commence in January 2004. The President did state on that occasion that the Waterfront Enterprise Board (WEB) was working actively with its private sector development partner to re-establish a funding structure which would allow the project to proceed, and that the target date at that time for the commencement of construction was January 2004. It was also stated that this commencement date was subject to the achievement of certain key steps, including agreement on the funding arrangements.
The Board of WEB continues to work closely with its hotel development partner to achieve a start to this important project. Considerable work is being done by the developer's team and valuable progress is being made, but funding has not yet been approved and so a start date cannot yet be confirmed. The Board of WEB considers that it currently remains in the interests of its shareholders not to abandon its partner at this time on what is an extremely difficult project. The Board has undertaken to keep the Policy and Resources Committee regularly updated on progress. At this stage, whilst discussions remain ongoing, neither the Board of WEB nor the Policy and Resources Committee have considered issuing a deadline.