Feb 03 - 'Bus Saga Has Passed its Sell By Date' - Claims Government
The Government’s retaliation to the contract award for new buses to Bassadone Motors has caught them out, claims the Opposition. The party believes that the Administration ‘is embarrassed about the lack of commercial reasons to justify the allocation of the new buses contract to Bassadone Motors’.
Selwyn Figueras explained that ‘they're so nervous about the cronyism charge building against them that they're not even realising that the Opposition is not criticising the measures the Government may have taken to allow the new buses to drive along Europa road - we're only asking what those measures were!’
‘The Government will not publish the information we ask for because they know how damming it is. Once again, it's just opacity in every direction...’
In response, the Government has insisted that they already explained ‘that price is not the only criteria that is used when determining the award of tender. This was also the case when they were in Government. There are other factors which include service, reliability, track-record and maintenance issues which also come into play. This has not changed.’
The Government further explained that ‘buses ordered by the GSD Government were announced with a 15-20 year life-span provided that they received proper maintenance. They have the audacity to complain about a tender award when they allocated the contract to service those buses directly to AM Capurro and Sons Ltd without a tender. This cost the taxpayer £ 2.7 million.’
A Government statement further adds that ‘this bus saga has really passed its sell-by date.’
