Saunders urges release of audit on $2B ReGen deal
(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.
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Category: Environmental Health, Health
World class… my ass!
And we wonder why we can’t get off the FATF grey list!
Make Lakeside great again?
While we wait on it the deal, its time to open a new land fill in Bodden Town, should be far less than the 2 billion.
Its also in line with Eastwards expansion.
If for no other reason, it’s their turn. GT has been taking everyone’s trash for 60 years.
“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.”
Coming from the guy who suggested a bullet bond. Right…
Caymanians wake up and realize that this firing has nothing to do with sexual harassment and bullying. PACT government ushered in Mr Bush with all these known issues and did nothing time and time again.
We need to ask for accountability and the Auditor General reports. Let’s stick to the issues that is destroying our country.
We need infrastructure to assist with the long wait times in the eastern districts that is crippling our parents with stress.
Too much being spent helping Dart and our districts and people need help.
Let’s get to the bottom of these Dart deals as our elected representatives spends too much time making deals for him and not for the majority of the people .
With our last publicly published reoprt in the Caymanian Compass during 2017 advising that our government was owed $9 million in Unpaid Garbage Fees and only God knows what that current amount is
To the recent appeal from the Auditor General advising that only 2 out of 30 recommendations were implmented while encouraging Proper Budgeting, to making public our Government Chief Officers Failings on Transparency, i believe that Caymanians young and old should be concerned and old have a lot to talk about, we really need to sit down a have an open and mature discussion
https://caymannewsservice.com/2023/03/chief-officers-failing-on-transparency-says-oag/
I agree that the terms and conditions of this CIG ReGen Dump Deal should be made public and available to our seniors and our youth for innovative entreprenueral recycling Arts & Craft Programs that is taught in arts n craft classes at each school for a proper Cayman Islands Recycling Program
The recycled Plastics and Glass packaged and shipped overseas that should be generating revenue for our government and our country, “with a little effort and proper entreprenueral education” could easily be used to create a Local Arts & Craft Industry that could lead to many local jobs to make Garden, Dinning and Living Room Furniture such as:
Plastic Garden Tables
Plastic Chairs
Plastic Benches
Glass Dinning Tables & Chairs
Glass Living Room – Coffee Tables
Wow. All these negative comments against Chris, seeing he is outnumbered. Suppose he is right on this issue. Who is going to pay for the billions?
You image caption says “George Town Landfill”. That is not a landfill, it’s a dump.
Six years of inaction, during which we’ve seen sky high inflation rates, record population growth and mounting piles of trash – not surprised to hear the project costs have gone up.
Whether or not $2billion is the correct figure, delays cost money. What’s the price for starting over?
Quite a bit more when you throw in the resulting costs of cancer treatment.
So tell us Mr. Saunders who would you give the contract to!
Not Bluewater Medical Supplies.
I vote for the initial John Gray contractors.
Bluewater can do it all. 😝 😆 😂
Is it same to assume that JuJu and JonJon get pay raises while Big Mac and Saunders remain on their same salary?
Typical Greedy Dart. Nothing he does is for the benefit of these islands. First and foremost, it is for the benefit of his bottom line. When will people wake up??
You might say the same about the politicians negotiating the contract with him.
When its time to leave bacause they can’t afford to live here anymore
No need to be philanthropic when it’s such easy pickings.
As in paying for portable loos for the massive beach littering weekend, aka, Easter?
The Dart group actually gets S*** done, and done well. The government is not capable of making decisions.
All of you Dart haters are probably driving on the completed East-West arterial expansion, on the way to the completed Arnold Palmer Ironwood development or to Barefoot Beach development in East End. Or celebrating as your first grader 15 years ago could look forward to the new John Gray school for their high school years. Or maybe sitting at Mike Ryan’s spectacular Dragon Bay redevelopment at Safehaven?
I’ve been waiting on my reservation at the Hyatt, if we’re going down that path…
That’s on you. Sorry, no refunds.
Manic delusions. Have you seen the tunnels to nowhere without a filed plan? Old Hyatt? Spoken to condo owners there? Calicos? Royal Palms? Who do you think bought Dragon Bay from Ryan in 2012? Have Dart honored all of their commitments and obligations to residents and governments from past signed agreements? Getting things done you say?!? Not in any positive sense from any observer with a sense of historical track record and their eyes open.
Your problem is that you have no long-term vision/planning ability. Your jealousy is what will keep you in the lower classes.
Let’s stick to issues and stop side tracking what is happening in our country. We have too much to loose as cost of living is out of control. Let’s not add any unwanted expenses to ourselves and our generation to follow.
Put all the deals that government has made on the table so we the Caymanians can see the reckless spending and the buddy business deals. The people of this country deserves the truth
The developers and owners of housing units using them as Air B&B, VRBO, etc. is a huge driving force behind rental prices.
Partly, but it is also the accounting and law firms bursting at the seams (to the point where offices are full and staff required to work some days at home).
Prices have always been determined by supply and demand. Attempts to control either of those generally tends to be more detrimental than letting market forces sort themselves out.
PACTs own version of a Harry & Meghan Royal rift 🙄👑
Without the frost bitten todger – hopefully!
Waste management is important but what is going to be done with all the litter on beaches, sidewalks etc? That garbage isn’t there due to a lack of WM facilities, its because people don’t think littering is a problem.
That might be the case with litter on SMB, but in BT and EE the litter is literally washing up on the shore from cruise ships. It was gone for the whole time the borders were closed and is getting bad again now the cruise ships are back. Why are we allowing (a) the cruise ships to do this and (b) our beaches elsewhere on the island to be neglected in favour of SMB? All our beaches should be kept clean ALL the time.
Culture. This is the way.
Radar working yet?
it’s all about the he says, she says
but don’t forget about the starfish navigation system
Saunders is now going to make a real nuisance of himself as retribution for being sacked.
He won’t be doing himself or UDPact any favors.
i doubt if it is $2bn…but if it was that…it would be cheap compared to the yearly waste and cost of the civil service.
too lttle too late chris…you are what you are.
Two billion Jamaican dollars. That’s the currency Saunders thinks in.
Japan to lend expertise to help African nations improve waste management.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190816/p2a/00m/0na/018000c
WM style in Cayman and African nations is the same.
The Japanese Industrial
Waste Experience: Lessons for rapidly industrializing countries.https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/27294/indExp_Jap.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Hope Jap companies are also involved as subcontractors in the Cayman project.
Panton’s social media team appears to have been very busy!
If Dart’s project is $2 billion in costs and the competing one was $200 million shouldn’t we ignore the messenger, Chris, for a minute and focus on PACT and PPM now. Every single major project including the 15 years late John Gray School has politicians getting on the inside, awarding contracts to buddies. Remember Tom Jones and Alden and now it appears PACT and Wayne is doing the same.
Don’t shoot the messenger- focus on the message
Except it’s not Dart’s project. Its a response to a Request For Proposals which was issued by the then elected Government and presumably prepared by their directed Civil Servants.
Focus on the facts.
….Ironic that he is calling of the release of (any) the Auditor General’s myriad reports…they just get published, ignored and filed away into the ethernet never to be utilised, nor God forbid, have their recommendations implemented….by ANY government, ever……
it must be a soul destroying job, working in the Auditor General’s office and now, worst of all, being dragged into a game of political football….adding insult to (professional) injury.
Back to the days of Dan Dugay….great work, just ignored or worse, stamped out by politicians consequences…….
When this bid call was put out by CIG IN 2017, the final bids were down to Decco-Dart (a newbie to waste management) and a French-led consortium of several experienced international waste management and waste-to-energy operators…
See the rest of this comment here.
Fired and having a tantrum.
Chris pleaae shhhhhh, you got caught with your pants down!!!
Saunders should have been left out of Pact. Seems dangerously arrogant..
Arrogant and an ego the size of a weather balloon!
Omit ego and I still agree with you 🙂
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Can’t begin to tell you how disappointed I was. There is no actual beach. There are hotels all along but very little actual beach to sit on. We wanted to go snorkeling. The largest dive chain referred us to go snorkeling in the port area by all the cruise ships. The port area is disgusting. Crammed full of tourists from 4 cruise ships! The stores are mainly jewelry not from the island or cheap stuff from China. This island has sold out. Won’t be back and will advise others to avoid.
Truth
nicer, prettier and friendlier out East. 7 mile is for the rich fools.
Except our beaches are full of sargassum and the trash floating in from the cruise ships
For real. Cheap tshirts and junk trinkets. No wonder why busses and thousands occupy public beach.
Direct rule now! We’ve shown time and again that we don’t have the maturity, knowledge, skills or social awareness to conduct our affairs in an adult manner. Quite frankly embarrassing.
Is the Motherland any better? They are spending their time bashing their own Prince and his bi-racial wife! They can’t help us, never did.
5.37. Still not as embarrassing as Govt in the mother country.
Maybe we should hold off on this ‘direct rule’ stuff until the UK can rule itself with a little less chaos.
Grasping at straws! Saunders authorise the Premier to release all the evidence he says he has to remove you.
Seems as though Saunders would prefer a landfill located in Bodden Town West. Careful what you wish for Chris.
Dart already owns the land!
Good. Git r dun.
Classic attempt at deflection from Saunders. Too bad Wayne let the cat out of the bag first.
If what he is saying is true why did he waited until now to blow the whistle on this? If the other stuff didn’t happen would we have ever heard this?. Who can we trust? Also is there any truth about “his alternate ” unqualified managers and engineers etc., to fix the landfill issues. Seems as if we have never gotten the truth on who, when and how much to fix this mess but we the tax payers , our children, grandchildren great grandchildren to the 20-30th generation would have to bear the costs. Is there really anyone, any company out there with the skills to get this done,
This ticking time bomb gets more expensive by the minute. Enough of the fighting, finger pointing and blame game. The longer this drags on the more it will cost the people of this country. FIX THE FRIGGING DUMP!
We all see the obvious problem above the ground such as Mount Trashmore and the inefficent roadeays but never think of the deficiencies in the water and sewer systems.
It’s expensive to clean up after throwing your trash onto a big pile for half a century… who knew?!
2 billion now but we don’t have to live in this toxic waste land.
2 billion now but 6 billon down the road.
I for one do not believe a word that comes out of his mouth. He said he resigned did he not? When he was clearly fired. All Sour grapes.
I never liked or trusted this man and was glad to see the back of him. Too much love for his home country when his first allegiance should have been to The Cayman Islands.
I heard stories firsthand of his behavior at work. He thought he was above the law. His arrogance/aggression/ stupidity caught up with him. GOOD RIDDANCE!!!
I agree with you completely. Saunders is not a trustworthy individual!
It’s NEVER going to be a cheap fix. Continuing to push it aside is not helpful.
2 billion does seem to be an a crazy amount, but is that an amount that Chris is just pulling from the air or is it actually an accurate assumption?
Too many questions still to be able to form an informed opinion.
Agree, but it must be done by the world’s experts, by the Best of the Best. Japan is The World’s Leader in WM and D.
Exactly! The experts doe not include a long retired ” in charge of the landfill person” and his buddy ” Mr. Noitall” who has the gift of babble babble and make up stories,. If we have to spend money huge amount to get this done, and we will, please get professionals with a good track record and not just persons smacking their chops with the excitement of getting rich off us with nothing to offer. Why do so many politicians put us in that situation, could it be because of the future kickbacks? So sick and tired of the entire lot.
for 2B Japanese 🇯🇵(an island country just like cayman), who are the world’s experts in waste management and disposal, would have brought garbage disposal and waste management in Cayman to State of the Art.
Can they also mend the absurd public transportation system here?
So Wayne, by his own admission, thinks we should kick the can even further down the road by piling even more on top of the shit pile indefinitely and letting it “accidentally” burn from time to time.
sorry – what admission?<
“Remediation began on the landfill, in my view perhaps, a lot sooner than should have been”
– Except it started 40 years too late.
Sooner than it should have in terms of contract negotiation. Once they let Dart start the remediation, it becomes more difficult to then separate out that aspect from the rest of the project, and for example terminate the bid and go to the second bidder. Plus the principle source of leverage over Dart – the wast tip sitting next to his major real estate development – has gone. But the government of the time were facing an upcoming election and in the wake of a series of fires were desperate to be seen to be doing something. And here we are.
They did something, which is far more than can be said for any other.
Just fix the damn dump already.
Have to agree with minister Saunders. There is a critical need for transparency by this government as minister Panton pledged in his campaign. Instead the people have been treated like mushrooms.
The figure of $2B allegedly witnessed by minister Saunders is not in the least bit surprising if you consider successive cabinets have deferred dealing with solid waste properly since Mt. Trashmore site first rose out of the swamp. More concerning is minster Saunders comment regarding the winning bid figure and the $2B. Did the previous administration write Dart a blank cheque?
Why has the Auditor General’s report been suppressed for over a year? And now that PACT has been squeezed into a corner, just like the current active dump who is going to come clean and settle this deal once and for all. My guess is the can will be kicked on to the next roster of political clown.
Finally, minister Saunders should not have been bragging about a the fake surplus while all the time knowing what the government is most likely to be on the hook for.
@3:13pm. This is no more than a classic case of deflection by Chris Saunders..He knew about this from last year and didn’t say anything until after he was fired..
In my humble opinion, his thirst for power and his love of Jamaican garrison politics plus his disrespect for women is what has brought him down. If I were him, I would resign and try to keep my head high and stay away from politics. He has dug himself into a hole and now he looks like a fool trying to dig himself out.
I don’t know what’s what anymore, Saunders urging release’, ‘great blobs’, ‘material differences’ and ‘unwanted approaches’ 😳, – jumble them up however you want, but there’s no getting away from these are our local headlines 🙄
Who are Panton’s business partners in other ventures that attached to the dump deal?
The dump deal goes back to PPM and McKeever. We should be looking there first time see how we ended up here today. Same with the port debacle, the EW Arterial joke, the Hurleys bottleneck, the over-development and planned works in the wetlands, now the planned port at Breakers,the list goes on.
So true, if only all of this (and all the family and friends involved) could be brought into the light.
Is Wayne Panton seeking to protect his former colleagues in ppm before they reunite?
PPM committed Cayman to a very expensive and bad deal. Why am I not surprised given their legacy of lies and sweetheart deals?
But I thought Sir Alden announced a done deal on the dump just before the last election.
What was that all about?
Alden tries to do a lot of things right before election..not all good for the country but always for him..
Rather disingenuous of Saunders, given that his deliberate tactical delaying of this project adds to the cost every single day.
If it costs a crazy amount we cannot afford why continue with a bad deal? If Saunders is correct thank you for sharing the info with us before it was too late
Call you MLA and have them push for the release of the audit of the unaffordable dump deal – Clearly Saunders is not caucusing with PPM. 🙂
Could this be snother case of Cayman’s modus operandi- smoke and mirrors to detract attention from something else CS don’t want us knowing? So far as I am aware, the AG doesn’t keep reports secret and will in due course release the report through the usual process. Then we WILL hold government accountable.
Yeah, they always release the reports when everything is done and dusted and there is no going back…
$2 BILLION DOLLARS… in addition to the country’s $1 billion per financial year budget?
Over what period of time is this $2 billion expected to be expended?
Yes the landfill situation must be dealt with, but Government could man an entire task force and have this trash shipped off the island for less than burning it. And no doubt, creating more pollution and health hazard.
Not to mention, what will happen when the chemicals from burning tons and tons of trash get in to the ground and the water systems…?
“the landfill”? NOT! The Land wasn’t filled, it is The Open Air DUMP!
What people fail to recognize that Cabinet holds collective responsibilities. Therefore, while Saunders was unable to say the extent to the reckless damage that such a deal would do to our Country, we should be very proud that he was standing on our minority Caymanians. Please read and fully grasp the story before you make reckless accusation. Mr Panton is not for Cayman. Handing a few checks to Caymanians does not make you a caring person. What I am looking is what are you doing !
Well well, the few cheques was what got him and the Pack where they are today. That was his main focus so he strung along all his ringleaders and now they will probably leave him, one by one.
Oh please. I know the collective responsibilities and duties of government and operating the public purse than any of cabinet. Why? Because I studied it, and practised it – sadly they didn’t and don’t.
When did Saunders release the Cayman Airways utilization numbers? Aren’t these “commercially sensitive”? You can’t pick and choose your selective outrage now that you are out of Cabinet.
Those KX numbers won’t hit $2 billion as fast as the dump deal will!
3:12, The KX numbers will only be around $1 billion.
Be thankful.
Add another billion for the Turtle Slaughter Centre.
His name on plenty of them seats you see.