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Cost of Christiana road set to climb
The final price tag for the controversy-plagued Christiana bypass road in Manchester is now set to exceed the current cost of $800 million.
This as the purchase of land on which the road is built is yet to be completed.
The Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) of Parliament, which sought to wrap up its deliberations on the matter on Wednesday, wanted to know how much the land would cost.
However, Dr. Alwin Hayles, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Works, revealed that the final cost would come from the National Land Agency (NLA) when it completes negotiations with land owners.
Dr. Hayles also admitted that while some of the lots have already been paid for, that cost was not known by him or the National Works Agency (NWA).
However, this did not go down well with PAAC member, Fitz Jackson.
"I find these responses unacceptable. The NWA has already commenced the construction (of this) project (and) you can’t go in to start a programme, when you don’t know what your liabilities are, so it’s unacceptable that we’re going to be told here that you don’t know what those are. At the very least, between the NWA and the Ministry of Works (should) be able to tell this committee, these are the approved cost which we will have to meet," Mr. Jackson said.
Patrick Wong, the Chief Executive Officer of the NWA, sought to defend the process.
"Under the Compulsory Acquisition Act, we have access to all the lots, thereafter, the National Land Agency negotiates with the individuals. The budget that was allocated for land acquisition is about $65 million for all the various pieces of land that are required under the programme but the actual cost will be dependent on the final negotiations between the NLA and the individuals," Mr. Wong told the committee.
The works ministry and the NWA are to return to the PAAC next week with among other things, the cost of the lots purchased so far.
The final price tag for the controversy-plagued Christiana bypass road in Manchester is now set to exceed the current cost of $800 million.
This as the purchase of land on which the road is built is yet to be completed.
The Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) of Parliament, which sought to wrap up its deliberations on the matter on Wednesday, wanted to know how much the land would cost.
However, Dr. Alwin Hayles, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Works, revealed that the final cost would come from the National Land Agency (NLA) when it completes negotiations with land owners.
Dr. Hayles also admitted that while some of the lots have already been paid for, that cost was not known by him or the National Works Agency (NWA).
However, this did not go down well with PAAC member, Fitz Jackson.
"I find these responses unacceptable. The NWA has already commenced the construction (of this) project (and) you can’t go in to start a programme, when you don’t know what your liabilities are, so it’s unacceptable that we’re going to be told here that you don’t know what those are. At the very least, between the NWA and the Ministry of Works (should) be able to tell this committee, these are the approved cost which we will have to meet," Mr. Jackson said.
Patrick Wong, the Chief Executive Officer of the NWA, sought to defend the process.
"Under the Compulsory Acquisition Act, we have access to all the lots, thereafter, the National Land Agency negotiates with the individuals. The budget that was allocated for land acquisition is about $65 million for all the various pieces of land that are required under the programme but the actual cost will be dependent on the final negotiations between the NLA and the individuals," Mr. Wong told the committee.
The works ministry and the NWA are to return to the PAAC next week with among other things, the cost of the lots purchased so far.
