‘No regrets’ over Dart deal
(CNS): Despite being part of the UDP government that signed the NRA deal with Dart in December 2011, which the minority government then tried to improve, ministers present at the last Cabinet press briefing before the elections said they had no regrets. Following the collapse of talks between Dart and government on the so-called third amendment last week and the release Friday of all of the document relating to the agreement and the value for money report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the PNA ministers remained firmly behind the controversial deal. Although the agreement was described as a “train wreck” by some and numerous concerns were raised by PwC in their report, the ministers insisted it still presented value for money.
Speaking at the media briefing, chaired by Rolston Anglin in the absence, once again, of the premier, who was heading to Cayman Brac, Cline Glidden was the only minister who indicated that he had concerns about the original agreement from the start. However, he had not been involved in its signing at the end of 2011.
All of the other ministers defended the original agreement and their efforts to then try and improve on it, even though the very need to re-negotiate suggested they did not think it was that good. Glidden made it clear that he believed the deal was still in a state of negotiation as the current situation is not acceptable to CIG. As a result, the next part of the West Bay Road will not be closed and it will be up to the next administration to pick up the talks with Dart to try and broker a deal over the third amendment.
Dart now wants to revert back to the second amendment, which the PNA members all claim represents value for money, even though they are no longer prepared to accept the deal on those terms. The next administration, therefore, could be looking at a 'take it or leave it' situation, although it is not clear what 'leave it' would mean in terms of compensation to Dart, if any.
The ministers all believed that the third amendment negotiations were not over yet, despite the statements from Dart that it wishes to return to the second agreement. The developer has also implied that the PwC report was flawed and the third agreement was nothing more than last minute electioneering by the minority government.
Glidden pointed out that if Dart did not move from that position, the rest of the West Bay Road will not be gazetted. When a new government is in place, it will be tasked with deciding if it wants to go on with the deal as is or try to get more value for money.
“We need to get a better deal for country,” Glidden stated, clearly in an acknowledgment that the current situation is not a good deal for Cayman.
Nevertheless, Mark Scotland defended the signing of the first NRA agreement because of the situation at the time. He said that when government began negotiating with Dart things were bad economically, and still are, and the deal offered an opportunity to stimulate the economy.
“We didn't have many other options to create the growth,” Scotland stated. “I still think the report shows it presented value for money.”
Deputy Premier Rolston Anglin said the deal that they were attempting to renegotiate was part of the ForCayman Investment Alliance, which was a much bigger deal and seeing the NRA element in isolation distorted the overall picture.
“If you pull a piece of something out, it is not as easy to match up the benefits and it is more difficult to assess it all,” he said.
Glidden also confirmed that the Net Point Value used in the deal was set at 10.5%, which meant that, as the deal stands, Dart’s concessions could continue to increase, which is why the minority government had sought to renegotiate some of the concessions as well as the concerns they had over the precedent that such concessions on the Seven Mile Beach hotel could set.
The ministers all said that the people would all have their own opinion, independent of the review, on whether or not the deal presents value for money, is good for Cayman or if the efforts of the interim government to improve the deal with the third amendment were valuable or not.
Glidden added that the important thing was that they had finally been able to release all the details to the public.
“I haven't found one person who has said we should have gone ahead and agreed with the second amendment without trying to improve the deal,” the tourism minister said, adding that he hoped the next government would be able to reach an agreement with Dart on the third amendment.
Related articles on CNS:
CIG $20m down on Dart deal (includes documents relating to the deal and the value for money report)
Category: Politics
Any vote for the UDP or the PNA equals treason in my eyes! How can you scream about creating jobs and getting people back to work when there are 25,000 jobs here filled by foreigners? Do you really expect me to believe that out of the 25,000 jobs 2,000 caymanians are not suitable to be placed in any of those! Pure BS. The sad thing is that C4C or the PPM doesn't want to tell us the voting public whats their stance on that! I'm sick of hearing about we are losing business to our competitors (Bermuda, Antigua , Bahamas , BVI ) etc when these places all TAX their foriegn workers and cost of living is higher than the Cayman Islands. I dont shoot my mouth of about things, so just know that i'm speaking from a very informed and factual standpoint! Please save this comment and remember that "Harsh Reality" told you the truth – the first thing C4C or the PPM is going to do if elected is remove the Roll Over Policy. I'd much rather have those two groups elected but i dont blindly pledge alligance to any party because i dont agree with alot of their thinking.
Let's see:
UDP/PNA voted pensions for themselves for sitting only ONE term in the MLA.
There is no secret they all have Construction/Paving/Development/Consultant companies which they expect to get contracts with DART regardless if they win next week or not.
Any wonder why they push the development agenda through at all costs?
How did this work? Sign an agreement. Then. Try to re-negotiate it. Sign a second agreement. Then. Try to re-negotiate it. THEN. When all else fails. Re-negotiate it a third time.. saying it was good. But could have been better. Which one?
All of the Dart Agreements are bad – Dart wins in all, Caymanians lose inall.
Wake up Caymanians put Mac back in power and then Kenneth Dart will totally control every aspect of our lives.
Then Kenneth Dart will truly fulfill his dream of ruling Dartland.
So let me ask you something, have you thought what Cayman would be without Dart? Without Camana Bay? Is your head really so far up your ass that all you think is shit? Dart is an investor, of course he is going to come out on top!! How many Cayamanians has this new road put to work? How many Caymanians does the whole Camana Bay employ? DO YOU THINK ABOUT ALL OF THIS!?!?!? Its obvious you dont! My God people, look at the bigger picture and not just a small speck of it! its called the trickle down effect!
I hope the PNA steal the votes from UDP. PPM is not better than them. So I think everyone in West Bay know what time of day it is – PURPLE!
Judging from your grammar, or the lack thereof, it is evident you suffer from the same mental disparity that so plaque West Bay
plaque is something you scrubs off your teets. Even those with mental "disparity" have to do it or they will loose those same "teets".
Plague is a better word to describe the UDP and PNA.
You go PNA. We're voting for you!
Has the public beach and park works also been cancelled? Work seemed to stop a week or two ago. Whether there are still deals to negotiate and finalise or not Mr Dart should not embark on a project and leave a building site half way. Is this going to end up like the schools project?
Anyone still voting for the UDP or PNA?
Not my family, not me!
UDP = PNA
PNA = UDP
Therefore UDP/PNA!
The numbskullery of these individuals is difficult for any reasoned person to even begin to comprehend. They are basically stupid people, that much is clear.
No value for $$$ there! More like selling the country out! We understand we need business in these islands but not when we’re on the losing end of the deal!
100% Caymanian
One must have a conscience and class to have any regrets. Rolston, Juliana and the other muppets have none.
Kind of makes you wonder if Mary Poppins and the White rabbit are free for next 4 years…they would sort us out for sure…
Dear PNA
Please do your best to improve the NRA deal and 3rd amendment before you are all voted out of office next week. I appreciate your attempts to finally do the right thing for our Caymanian people. However, Like you we have no regrets with the deal as it gave DRCL everything we could wish for even though it is contrary to our corporate ethos. Better luck next time I guess. I wonder if the PPM will be this easy?
PS – I hope the good folks of CYB have the sense to vote out the worst Premier in Cayman’s history. JOC makes Mac look competent
"I haven't found……." My goodness, where was the man searching?
Wow, it appears to me that these guys are just clueless. We cannot have politicians negotiate these types of deals for this country. From reading the article I am confused as to whether they think this was a good deal or a bad one.
This is what happens when politicians negotiate deals with other people’s money. These politicians need to be personally liable for any losses for the country. Let’s see how many would run for office then and have the nuts to sign a deal without making damn sure it is value for money.
How do these people sleep at night?
That’s why you all have to go! If you have no regrets on what you all basically did which was to pull the rug from under every Caymanian, then you must go! Next week can not come soon enough!
NO program for the youth, but we spent $40 million on consultant cronies in 8 years for the white elephant of a school? (yesterday's printed newspaper)
So WHY is ANYONE still DUMB ("Sheep" – vote straight = ha ha ha) enough to vote in these "career corrupt politicians"? PPM ot UDP? they Both let us down and led us into debt and unemplyment.
On THAT note: we do NOT have an unemployment problem. We have 2,000 unemployed locals and 20,000 work permit holders. The past government(s) have fed on these WP fees.
It is time to get Cayman back to work and it is not with dirty DART promises or construction jobs – we only have "what" another few years of land left???, but get back to work with qualifying Caymanians. Stop the rubber-stamp work permit fees of big business.
Sorry Youth, we spent YOUR money buying votes for the churches?
This story tells me all I need to know about the PNA. PNA can't decide where they want to throw their influence, because they have lost the plot; they appear less concerned with what is good for thecountry than is what is good for self.