By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business

Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A CABINET minister says Potter’s Cay vendors, whose stalls were destroyed by fire in April 2021, must use the Ministry of Works-approved plan to rebuild after the Government was accused of failing to move reconstruction forward.

Clay Sweeting, minister of agriculture, marine resources and Family Island affairs, said the Minnis administration left no formal procedures in place to unlock the financial assistance it promised to the fire-stricken vendors. He spoke out after his immediate predecessor, Michael Pintard, now leader of the Opposition, charged that the Davis administration is dragging its feet on the rebuild.

Mr Pintard said the Minnis administration had left a “comprehensive plan” to rebuild the destroyed stalls behind after it was voted out of office in the September 2021 general election. “We had architectural drawings designed, and the Ministry of Tourism also assisted,” he added. “We deposited a little over $120,000 at FYP and, in addition to that, the ministry itself allocated funds that was roughly $34,000 to go with it.”

This, the FNM leader said, was designed to kickstart reconstruction of the destroyed stalls. “They could have gotten the shell up, and the vendors could have fitted it out the way they wanted to, put the pilings in and have running water,” Mr Pintard said.

“If you look at the period of time, from the fire to the time we did all of that, waiting on Ministry of Works to give the final approval to commence construction.... You compare that to this administration that’s been in now one year and seven months, which is substantially longer than the period of time for which they were berating the former administration for having not rebuilt those stalls.”

But Mr Sweeting, in a statement, said: “I was aware of a verbal commitment by the former administration of assistance for the fire victims at Potter’s Cay. Government is continuous and we wanted to honour the verbal commitment of the former minister.

“There were no procedures put in place. So what we did is we got a Cabinet approval to assist the fire victims. In that respect, we got approval to allocate funding in the same amount that the former government promised them at FYP for supplies.

“All of that has been completed. The stall owners have access to that funding. We also assisted with getting approval from the Ministry of Works for a site location, the proper plans and architectural renderings to ensure that we are providing a proper ambiance at this site at Potter’s Cay, and it’s something that is streamlined, so we did that. The funding is available at FYP as long as they utilise the plans that were provided and approved by the Ministry of Works.”

Potter’s Cay vendors have complained against the site plan presented to them, arguing that it does not allow them to put pilings down into the seabed as they had it before. But Mr Sweeting said: “The situation in regards to the seabed does not fall under this ministry.

“That is approval that is required on the legislation that was passed in 2019 in regards to DEPP (Department of Environmental Planning and Protection) approval, so that would come to the Ministry of Environment and Environmental Planning.

“So, for us, we did what we could on our behalf. We approved them. We are not hindering them at all. Building the stalls has been approved. The funding is available in excess of $60,000 per vendor, and we want to do what we can to assist them.”