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(CNS): The war of words between Premier Wayne Panton and Chris Saunders MP (BTW) escalated Monday when the former minister said the real reason why he is no longer in Cabinet is that he was not prepared to support the ReGen deal PACT is about to finalise. Saunders said it could cost as much as $2 billion and has urged the premier to release a report by the auditor general that his office has had since 4 December 2021.
Saunders posted a social media message after Panton appeared on Radio Cayman this morning, in which he said there were “material differences between” himself and the premier, the first being the proposed Integrated Solid Waste Management System (ISWMS), known as the ReGen project.
He urged people to ask Panton to release the audit report so they would know the truth and everything would be made clear.
“If the report is not released, I suspect that, as usual, the excuse will be ‘commercial sensitivity’. If that happens, I would suggest that the premier be asked the nature of the commercial sensitivity and whose commercial interest is being protected over and above the public’s interest,” Saunders stated in his Whatsapp message.
“The last set of numbers that I saw makes this project unaffordable for the public purse and there is absolutely no way I would have signed off on that project when I was Minister of Finance.” He said that efforts were already being made to promote that project.
“I implore you to reach out to your members of parliament and insist the government does not move forward until the country knows the full costs. The last number that I saw for the project was around $2 billion,” he said. “At a minimum, if they don’t want to release the report, ask the amount of the winning bid at that time. The difference between those two numbers will surprise you.”
Saunders said that while the dump needed to be remediated and a long-term solution to waste management found, he did not believe the entire country and an entire generation should be mortgaged to pay for it.
“Sending this message this morning wasn’t easy as it will keep me in the firing line for more personal attacks,” the two-term MP said. “I am a big boy, I can take it. But I cannot afford to sit by and watch our children and grandchildren be saddled with a tax burden that they will not be able to afford.”
Saunders referred to past warnings that were ignored but came back to haunt subsequent generations. “For those of you who are old enough to remember, didn’t past elected representatives tell you not to sell your land? They were vilified, smeared, and call everything under the sun. Look at land prices today,” he said.
“Didn’t past elected representatives tried to get a portion of revenues from Financial Services set aside for housing for Caymanians? They too were vilified, smeared, and called everything under the sun. Look at the challenges we have today for housing.”
Saunders urged the public not to let this warning go unheeded. “We already have challenges on healthcare costs that are rising rapidly and we have a responsibility to educate and prepare our children for the future. If we add this ISWMS project, in its current form, to that burden, our children and grandchildren will never forgive us,” he said.
During his appearance on Radio Cayman on Monday, which came before Saunders’ social media message, the premier implied that the ReGen project was close to a final deal but that it had not been without its challenges.
Not for the first time, he told listeners that it had been a difficult road. Despite the previous government’s decision to sign a preliminary agreement just before the election, Panton said the bulk of the project was not covered in that deal.
“We are very close to being able to finalise the position,” he said, noting that the “major core” of the project signed by the Progressives included some 30 documents that were “left open”, and it had taken a long time to deal with that.
“Remediation began on the landfill, in my view perhaps, a lot sooner than should have been,” he said. “I thought they should have been focused on the documentation agreed before they committed fully to the remediation and removing options from the government… Only a small area was left in the northwest corner where landfilling can occur.”
Panton added that the estimates about the landfill area that would be needed were also less than what has actually been required and left some challenges to managing waste before the waste-to-energy system is completed
The premier warned that this was one of the projects that the government had to think about in the face of rising costs in public spending.
See the related story here.
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