Following the most recent session of Parliament, the GSD have issued a statement raising concerns around the Government’s reported rental costs for 80a Queensway.

A statement from the GSD follows below:

The Chief Minister has shockingly misled Parliament as regards the rental payments which are being made to Bassadone Industrial World Limited in respect of this company’s property at 80a Queensway to be used for civil service offices. This is clear from the documents which the GSD has obtained from the Land Register. 

The reality is that on the last working day before the 2023 election was called the GSLP Government agreed  to pay the Bassadone entity £22M in rent over 21 years when the Government had sold that same plot to the  Bassadone Group for £7.5M two years earlier. This deal raises serious questions. 

The lease reveals that the Government is in fact paying approximately in excess of £1M per year or £87K a  month and not £22K as the Chief Minister told Parliament. This, in a 21-year lease which the Government has  entered into, translates not to £5.5M as previously thought but to almost £22M in rent for the full term. This  calculation does not take account of increases in rent which the lease provides in its rent review provisions or the costs to the Government of converting the property into offices which the GSD expects will be substantial. 

The documents also show that the lease was entered into on 8th September 2023, which was the last working  day before the election was called. It is clear that what the GSLP did was to frantically have the 21-year deal  sown-up ahead of a new Government being sworn in, beneficial to its friends and benefactors.  

In less than 8 years Bassadone will have seen a return of its initial investment and had the benefit of former warehouses being converted into office space at taxpayer expense. 

Far from this being a good deal for the tax-payer it is now clear it is a very bad deal for the public,  compounded by serious misleading by the GSLP Government.  

Damon Bossino MP said: “Before descending to personal insults what the Government should do is apologise to the public for not being straight with them and for leading them down another garden path like with so  many other issues. Enough is enough.”