Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley must clear the air and say whether the Government will actually be using One Alexandra Place and if rent is being paid on the building since the People’s National Movement assumed office, Opposition MP Roodal Moonilal said yesterday.
He said the issue of One Alexandra Place, rented by the People’s Partnership for five years to the tune of $48 million and never occupied, continued.
A further $50 million had been spent to outfit the building to accommodate government offices.
The People’s Partnership was faced with renting the building after the PNM administration, under former prime minister Patrick Manning, signed a lease/rental agreement for the building in 2010. The PNM paid $4.3 million in rent before it was voted out of office in the 2010 general polls and the PP entered office.
The PP had accused the PNM of renting the building from the family of PNM’s Faris Al-Rawi, now Attorney General under the Rowley PNM administration. Al-Rawi was the legal representative for the building’s owner, who the PP said was his close relative. He hasn’t denied this.
The PNM, in turn, has alleged the PP failed to outfit the building and left it empty because it wanted to give a “preferred bidder” the outfitting contract.
Former PP ministers last weekend said the delays in occupying the building were caused by changes as a result of various entities seeking to be housed in the building. The outfitting contract is under review by the Solicitor General though the contractor has sent the Government a pre-action protocol letter seeking the rest of payment owed.
Moonilal said there had been conflicting reports on whether the PNM administration “is paying rent for the building or not to the AG’s (Al-Rawi’s) family.
“There also seems to be some muddle among ministers on whether the building will be used or not by the Government since one minister didn’t say it would not be used.
‘He said it may be and another says they are still talking. Which is it? Does one minister wants it, has the Government decided? They’re contradicting each other... (so) the Prime Minister must say,” he added.
Rowley is due back from his overseas trip on Saturday, the OPM confirmed yesterday. Moonilal also responded on PNM claims about “Villa 111” at Tobago Plantations.
PNM Senator Foster Cummings in the Senate’s debate of the SSA Bill on Tuesday, accused the UNC of having “cocoa in the sun.” He asked who owned Villa 111 at Tobago Plantations.
Yesterday PNM officials claimed it was Moonilal but the latter said he owned no property there.