Atherley calls for details on rent paid by Government

Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley has called on the administration to disclose exactly where the $65 million spent annually to rent office spaces for government departments is going.

He made the call at the official launch of the restoration of the old Welfare Building, at Country Road, St Michael, on Friday, as he raised concerns about the large sums of money being spent on rental accommodation.

Atherley said Government needed to tell the public how the money was apportioned.

“Because it is a lot of money being spent every year, and I am glad that some of it will be saved when we bring this building back into use at a fairly minimum cost, from what I hear,” he said.

Minister of Housing Lands and Maintenance Dr William Duguid who admitted that a significant amount of money has been spent on renting office spaces, told Atherley that much of that money was being invested by the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) which has built many rental accommodations over the years.

“I will give you an example. The CXC building and a lot of the buildings in Warrens were, in fact, built by the National Insurance Scheme. And yes, of course, the public has a right to know how the rent is spent, but we check and renegotiate rentals at all times. So, it is not something we take lightly, and we continue to look at it constantly,” Minister Duguid said.

He said the commencement of infrastructural works at the Welfare Building was the start of Government’s fourth rejuvenation project that started with the Supreme Court which is still in progress, and the completed Sanitation Service Authority and Barbados Water Authority buildings.

Minister Duguid said work at the Welfare Building should be done in about four months at a cost of about $800 000.

Once completed, Welfare Department workers who are currently housed at the Weymouth Corporate Complex will return to the original location.

“I am very proud that we have been able to get this fourth building started because stranded assets are never a good thing,” Minister Duguid said. “And if we can get more and more of these buildings back into use it can only redound to the benefit of the people of Barbados because it reduces our rental costs, it puts people back to work and it gets our country looking better again.” (AH)