Moonilal: Will $150M project cost $380M?

THE initial cost of the Real Spring Housing Development in Valsayn was $150 million but under the Government it could rise to $380 million, alleged Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal speaking in the Mid Year Review debate in the Lower House on Thursday.

He said in 2005 the then Udecott executive director Calder Hart took a $170 million loan from Home Mortgage Bank (HMB) that he also also headed to build 400 housing units, over a two year period.

Moonilal asked, “Did Cabinet approve $150 million to finish this project ,while the estimate to finish was $73 million and while you already spent $119 million?” He said a past PNM government had paid money towards 80 per cent of the cost of the project, but only 44 per cent to 55 per cent of the work had been done.

If Cabinet has agreed $150 million, the total sum allocated to the project would be $380 million, for a project initially priced at $154 million, Moonilal said. “That deserves some clarification.”