Minister of Housing and Lands Dwight Sutherland is refuting claims that Home Ownership Providing Energy Inc. (HOPE Inc.) is facing a lawsuit over an unfulfilled $64 million contract.
He charged that the report carried on Page 1 of yesterday’s SUNDAY SUN was misleading and premature.
Addressing the Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) St Michael South branch meeting at Graydon Sealy Secondary School yesterday evening, Sutherland said while discussions are ongoing regarding contractual matters, there was no legal action against HOPE Inc.
Prime Minister Mia Amor
Mottley went further and accused the newspaper of possibly breaching parliamentary privilege by publishing details from an incomplete audit.
She said the report, which alleged that HOPE Inc. faces a lawsuit over a $64 million contract with Preconco Ltd, was based on a draft document from the Auditor General’s Office that had not been finalised, let alone presented to Parliament, as required by law.
Sutherland criticised the newspaper for presenting findings as definitive when the Auditor General had not yet received official responses from HOPE Inc. or the Ministry of Housing.
The minister did acknowledge that challenges had arisen with the Pool, St John housing project but attributed them to missteps under previous leadership at HOPE Inc. He said while mistakes were made, corrective action had been taken and transparency remained a priority.
The contract at the centre of the discussion, signed with local precast manufacturer Preconco Ltd in December 2022, was originally intended for 1 000 precast housing units at various locations. However, he explained that while the board initially approved only 50 units, an expanded contract was subsequently ratified.
Sutherland denied that the contract had resulted in litigation, stating that ongoing discussions were centred on a process called “novation”, which replaces the old contract with a revised agreement, ensuring that all obligations are
settled amicably. He insisted that this is a normal contractual negotiation process and should not be misrepresented as a lawsuit.
Addressing concerns raised in the article about HOPE Inc constructing houses on lands that were not yet vested in the agency, he explained that while there were delays due to legal complexities surrounding the transfer of lands, those issues had been resolved. He told party faithful that all legal requirements had now been met and that work at Pool will resume in the new financial year.
He reiterated that the current administration had moved away from the traditional “one-to-one” method of building houses on large plots of land to an industrialised approach that makes use of the more than $2 billion in liquidity within the banking system rather than relying on the Consolidated Fund.
Sutherland stressed that all housing projects will continue with full transparency and accountability.
(CLM)
