Oct 16 - GSD Asks Government How It Will Pay For Eastside Land
The GSD notes that the Gibraltar Government has paid £28 million to buy back the Eastside reclamation from the company that was going to develop the site.
The GSD says that the Government should, however, explain how it is to fund the purchase of the land, particularly in the light of the GSLP-Liberals’ arguments as recently as last year about the state of our public finances and levels of public debt they inherited from the GSD Government.
A spokesperson said:
“If the Government has already negotiated with third party investors who will be making a contribution to the £28 million, the Government should say so. The Opposition hopes that this is the case and that the Government is not using savers money from Gibraltar Savings Bank (“GSB”) to fund this.”
The GSD says it is their duty to bring their concerns to the public's attention and hope that the Government takes stock.
Daniel Feetham, Leader of the Opposition, said: "The Government has embarked on a spending spree of monumental proportions since taking office without bringing any real investment to Gibraltar. Indeed, in comparison to the financial year ending 31 March 2012 the projected overall recurrent expenditure for year ending 31 March 2014 will have risen by £66.6 million per annum or £5.525 million per month. This is quite apart from the significant capital projects announced by the Government including a new Power Station, Commonwealth Park, the new housing projects etc. We are very concerned that the Government is seeking to use savers’ money from the Gibraltar Savings Bank as a piggy bank to fund projects which would otherwise need to be funded through recurrent income or borrowing.
“It will be recalled that the Government is loath to borrow in order to pay for their manifesto commitments because they severely criticised levels of public debt during the GSD Government’s term in office, which they promised to bring down. However, it is very easy to bring public debt down if the Government is simply using, or causing the GSB and/or Credit Finance Company Limited to use £307 million of savers’ money, as a ‘piggy bank’ to fund its commitments simply because that money does not rank as public debt and does not appear in the estimates of revenue and expenditure present to Parliament at budget time.
“We ask for an immediate public statement from the Government of what its plans for the Eastside are and how the £28 million is to be funded.
“Irrespective of how this re-purchase is to be funded, the Opposition is very concerned that the real picture of our public finances may only become apparent after a new government is elected and an audit is carried out of all public expenditure and companies controlled by the Government, directly or indirectly, including the Credit Finance companies. The GSD Opposition is committed to doing precisely that if elected into Government.”
