Sammy: Penal/Debe corp will grind to halt

Dr Allen Sammy
Dr Allen Sammy

Penal/ Debe Regional Corporation (PDRC) chairman Dr Allen Sammy is predicting that the Opposition-controlled corporation will grind to a halt because of a lack of funds.

On Tuesday, Sammy said the corporation's “critical and essential operations” will cease because of the ‘non-release” of government subventions since the start of the 2019/2020 fiscal year on October 1, 2019.He said the corporation received only 29 per cent of its request for funds to pay for goods and services for October 1-December 31, 2019, which was $2.8 million out of a requested $9.8 million.“This is a shortfall of $6.8 million, or 71 per cent, and this is in spite of repeated requests by management pointing out the negative impacts on people’s lives,” Sammy said in a statement.

He said the money received was spent on wages for short term employment and this left a “paltry” $800,000 for other commitments. “The consequences of this deliberate financial squeeze are that no utility bills have been paid (electricity, water, telephone) for any of our buildings, including the municipal police offices, pavilions, repairs or purchase of minor equipment, the maintenance of vehicles and the rental of administrative offices.”Sammy said no road repair materials have been bought since October though councillors have identified an estimated 1,750 potholes in the sprawling corporation.He said the administration has resorted to using the chairman’s fund to buy fuel for the PDRC’s trucks, backhoes and water and cesspit trucks.He said the rent for councillors' offices have not been paid since October and a security provider has also not been paid for the past three months.Sammy questioned whether the PDRC’s political leanings had anything to do with the “severe financial squeeze” it was experiencing.

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