Former government minister and economist Selby Wilson said Government should undertake restoration work on the Red House, but must ensure monies injected into the project are well spent.
“I think the Red House should be preserved and restored. If the Government is going to spend in excess of $300 million, then it should be spent efficiently and well. If it is not restored properly and promptly then we run the risk of it never being restored and losing a historical building in the country. I am in support that the Red House should return to its original condition,” Wilson said.
He said citizens had experiences in the past, where millions were spent on projects and they did not get value for money. One such project was White Hall, Wilson said.
“We don’t want to see that reoccurrence again. Udecott has to ensure that the contractor does the work properly. If the money is well spent on state’s assets that is not as bad as if you spend it on recurring expenditure,” Wilson said.
Economist Dr Vaalmikki Arjoon said restarting work on the Red House “can help to lessen the impact of the economic downturn on the construction sector to some extent. It will indeed generate income and employment in this sector, not only through the activities of the contract awardee Udecott, but also through those companies who may be sub-contracted by Udecott to help in the restoration work.”
Arjoon said Udecott and sub-contracted companies might hire new workers for this initiative.
“It will also increase the business activities and sales revenue for those companies that have dealings with these various contractors, especially companies that supply construction raw materials to contractors. Overall, this will most certainly help the construction sector to gain more traction.”
However, he wondered what percentage of the contract funds will be used to sub-contract local companies, as opposed to foreign companies.
“At this juncture, it would be preferred that the sub-contracted companies are local firms, as this will ensure that the money stays in the local economic system and our foreign exchange is not tapped into further to pay foreign firms.”
Once work was completed, Arjoon said, Government could rent out the floors at the International Financial Centre, which parliamentarians and Parliament staff currently occupy.
“The Waterfront can be then be utilised by the private sector or a foreign enterprise setting up operations locally, thereby providing the country with some additional revenue in the form of rent.”
Arjoon said while the restoration work is long overdue, he is querying whether the $400 million should be directed to more profitable ventures in the construction sector rather than the Red House at this time.