Gov’t justifies using CIP funds to pay Quarry workers

The government has justified the use of funds from the Citizenship by Investment Program to pay off quarry workers on the island.

All outstanding monies, including overtime payments to quarry workers, have been settled according to Information Minister Melford Nicholas

“Our capital projects and road workers are critical. The treasury has limited cash available to it and in consequence, the overtime payments for Quarry workers had fallen in arrears. If we are going to further advance the capital projects concerning our roadworks, certainly the work starts in the quarry”

“If we are unable to get raw materials to the quarry because the workers are dissatisfied, then there can be no further advancement of our capital projects so we need to use the funds wherever they are”, Nicholas explained

He told the weekly Cabinet Press Conference that the allocation of the CIP in the National Development Fund is in order and appropriate.

“Not only do we collect revenues at the Customs and Excise Division but through the Inland Revenue where there are license fees and other taxes…so the third option would be CIP funds”, he said.

Nicholas said when the CIP was established, the government was advised to keep it as a rainy-day fund to be used to fund large capital projects.

“Not only have we been able to utilize the CIP to get Social Security out of deficit, but we have also used CIP to capitalize several projects to include funding of equipment for the Sir Lester Bird Medical Center and to expand the government digital agenda,” he said.