Ian Black has faced questions from the Public Accounts Committee
JERSEY’S top civil servant has blamed States Treasurer Ian Black for the multi-million-pound incinerator euro blunder.
Both States chief executive Bill Ogley and his deputy, John Richardson, say that it was up to the Treasury Department to sort out the exchange rate risk, which appears to have cost taxpayers an extra £3 million on top of the price for the La Collette incinerator.
Millions of pounds were added to the cost of the project because the rate at which euros for the £100 million-plus contract were brought was not fixed before the sterling rate dropped. Although the final extra cost will not be known until the project is completed, it has been conservatively put at £3 million, rising to up to a possible £9 million.
At a Public Accounts Committee hearing yesterday both Mr Ogley and Mr Richardson – the former chief officer of Transport and Technical Services, who has been promoted to deputy chief executive responsible for efficiency savings – blamed the failure on the Treasury Department.
Treasury chief officer Mr Black and other staff from the department are currently facing disciplinary procedures over the errors.
When Mr Black was questioned by the committee a fortnight ago, he claimed that Mr Richardson was responsible. At the time, he said: ‘The accounting officer for this project was clearly the chief officer of Transport and Technical Services. That is responsibility for all risks to do with that project.
Article posted on 12th May, 2009 - 2.58pm
11 Article Comments
No surprise there then !!! when will there be any accountability, Tez should have a sign on his desk which says THE BUCK STOPS HERE !!!!
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So the ‘buck-passing’ has begun. It would noble if the actual responsible person stood forward to be counted, but I doubt the full picture will ever be seen. As usual the whole debacle will rumble on with accusation, counter accusation and much finger pointing.
All of this compounded on a possible top estimate cost of £9m. Sadly yet again the States have displayed gross incompetence in handling large projects and budgets, again to the detriment of us the Tax paying public.
Not good enough.
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Its looks very much like a case of pass the blame and don’t blame me!
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had to find a scapegoat somewhere i guess.
but did his underlings not see it coming?
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Can you imagine the damage this would cause to our reputation in the international financial community/media if this became known, we would be a laughing stock and to think that our ministers are going to sign up to a 10 year building contract for the Esplanade . I find that very frightening , can you imagine the fiasco this could turn out to be, they couldn’t manage the Cavern under fort regent properly and it cost three times the estimate Just think of the consequences of what could happen at the Esplanade. They still don’t know where the people who park in the existing car are going to park from day one of the closure, think about it, over 500 cars look for some where to park. That’s how well planned it is, the nearest i got to an answer was they will have to fend for themselves. Just think how much the tax payer could possibly end up having to pay. Also think about the damage to Tourism, we already have tourists writing into the JEP saying Jersey is one big building site covered in scaffolding, what are they going to think about the 10 year building site. Four years ago I went on a tour of the abattoir site and we were all told that the 19 retail outlets had already been let, know we find that they don’t have anyone and Tourism have moved back into their old building as the restaurant enterprise has pulled out, so how confident are they that we can fill another 35% of the current office space, where are all these office workers going to come from not the centre of town that’s for sure. Perhaps the JEP could do a poll to what people think about the esplanade project, what damage it will do, do they have confidence in the states to manage the project properly etc.
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So Tez wriggles and so does Mr.Blogley and Ian Black takes the rap.Could someone please tell me how much the top Civil Servant earns and where he was trained.I’d love a job like his with a high salary and no accountability.Wise up please States members before we are dessimated by incompetents at the top.
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Having spoken to Mr I black, it’s always the same. it’s not my fault, this man should resign now. He always blames other people.
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scape goat or not, will they get sacked?
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I do not see what all the fuss is about. So they did not hedge the funds, by the time of completion the exchage rate may well have swung back in their favour.
The real problem with all States backed projects is that they do not have the experience or will to control scope creep and excessive change order demands from contractors.
Look back over the last dozen or so major projects and you will see that they are consistently over budget by 30% or more with little attempt to recover these funds.
My advice would be to renegotiate the contract as global engineering and fabrication is much under-utilised and save 10 to 20 million rather than quible over exchange rate woes.
Of course there is also the chance to revisit the design basis which would save even more.
Will they do either? I doubt it as the States move like treacle and do not relaise that the global engineering market has changed or that there might be a better solution overall as there is no expertise in house.
They have the luxury of deep pockets, by which I mean the tax payers of the Island.
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Just like the fat cat bankers, here we have our most highly paid politicians and chief officers getting paid vast salaries for failure. Sack the lot of them.
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Not focusing on Mr Black for the mo,If you were commercially accountable..you would not let such things happen,how many civil servants do we see sacked…hardly ever..reason they harbour the “job for life” culture,so when the stuff hits the fan Mr No one is to blame..how can staff grasp the nettle if they know they will only get a slap on the wrist if it goes pear shaped,meetings ,reports,experts.more meetings all designed to avoid responsibility and accountability, are what we get…were it all published on the net, and sackings for failure, you would see a sea change overnight who will have the courage to bring this type of response forward……This reward for failure culture will flush us all down the Loo.
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