Minister: We've been completely transparent with wharf developments

The Minister of Public Works, the Hon. Trevor Moniz JP MP, in response to an article which appeared in the Royal Gazette today, entitled Minister accused of pier update ‘smoke screen’ tactics wishes to issue the following statement:

“I was quite disturbed to see the article in today’s daily regarding Heritage Wharf,” Minister Moniz said. “The source quoted and the article itself present a misleading picture.

“I was indeed hopeful all works would be completed on time for the arrival of the Breakaway but, unfortunately, as I have explained in previous releases (as early as April 5^th) we stressed that there were experiencing challenging weather conditions that would limit the number of days we could operate on the water.”

“However a great deal was achieved in a very short period of time and all works have been constructed to a high quality.  The works that needed to be completed were completed, and ultimately we achieved the goal of being ready to receive the Breakaway.  The question frequently asked was ‘Will the Breakaway be able to dock?’ and clearly she was.

“We have been completely transparent throughout, issuing weekly progress reports via press release in the weeks leading up to the arrival of the Breakaway.

“A press release dated April 21^st, which was sent to the Royal Gazette, who in fact ran this very sentence in their newspaper the next day, quotes the Minister as saying: ‘While all works may not be complete we remain confident that the dock will be prepared to receive its first ship on May 15^th’.

“An additional media release, sent to all local outlets on April 5^th, stated: The Government is confident that we will deliver a structure that befits a ship of this stature and that the dock will be prepared to receive this ship from its maiden voyage on the 15^th of May this year. It is intended that the all piling works be completed prior to the arrival of the ship.  However the public should expect to see further works continuing after this date as the dock is further upgraded for progressively higher design wind speeds.

“A further Ministry press release dated May 6th plainly stated that we would finish the concrete cap on the southern dolphin and that we were still ‘catching up’ with the northern dolphin.

“We have kept the public abreast of all updates regarding this project, as we will continue to do in the coming weeks.”