Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro chopped the power because of an unpaid bill by the previous owner.
Provincial fisheries lifted the plant license in a dispute over construction of a wastewater treatment system for the plant.
The provincial government apparently fronted the money, the preliminary work was done but the contractor wasn’t paid.
[Provincial fisheries] Minister [Tom] Hedderson said that Atlantech did the work and were ready to put the treatment equipment in the Gaultois plant. However, a serious problem arose when the company was not paid for its initial work. Basically, government gave GB Seafood International the first $182,000 of an approximate $400,000 project to pay for the work completed by Atlantech. However, the money was never paid to the PEI company and no one seems to know where the money is.
Read the rest from The Coaster.
The money for this little disaster came from a 2007 announcement by former fish minister Tom Rideout.
That would be the same one in which he announced construction of an aquaculture veterinary facility that would be finished by 2009.
They called the tender for construction this month.
And announced it again, not like Tom hadn’t already announced it at least once before.
Anyway…
Do the words due diligence mean anything to anyone any more?
The best line in The Coaster story is the one where it’s clear there’s nearly $200,000 of public cash gone and no one knows where it is.
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