Following initial assessments of the Central Administration Complex, Deputy Governor David D. Archer has advised that a decision has been made to close all offices that occupy this facility for today, 29 August 2019. Photo: VINO/File

It was only on August 20, 2019 that Premier and Minister of Finance Honourable Andrew A. Fahie (R1), left, spoke on the state of the working conditions at Central Administration Complex and promised relief for workers. Photo: VINO

Central Administration Complex, the headquarters of government, is one of the many important facilities that were neglected by the previous National Democratic Party (NDP) administration, even though the then government had collected some $11.4M in insurance claims since April 2018 to fix the facility. Photo: GIS/File

Further details will be communicated on the resumption of services in a later announcement, a notice from Government stated.

It said all other government offices that operate outside of the Complex would resume operations at 10:00 am as previously advised.

Time to fix the Complex

It is unclear at this time how exactly Hurricane Dorian impacted the facility; however, it was only on August 20, 2019 that Premier and Minister of Finance Honourable Andrew A. Fahie (R1) spoke of the state of the working conditions at Central Administration Complex and promised relief for workers.

“We have made a decision to fix the complex, and it is out of the insurance money, and the Minister of Works [Hon Kye M. Rymer] is in charge of that project,” Hon Fahie had stated at the consultation meeting on the UK loan guarantees at Eileene L. Parsons Auditorium, H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC), in Paraquita Bay, Tortola, on August 20, 2019.

Further, he said the public servants had endured long enough and it was time for relief.

“The public servants worked in water in that building. They came to work when their houses were destroyed, they came and they gave their faithful service and we have to work as a government to get it done.”

NDP collected Insurance $$ but failed to fix facility

Central Administration Complex, the headquarters of government, is one of the many important facilities that were neglected by the previous National Democratic Party (NDP) administration, even though the then government had collected some $11.4M in insurance claims since April 2018 to fix the facility.

However, for nearly two years public servants have been made to endure working under conditions that offered improper ventilation and lighting, extreme heat, and mold.

This is just one of many instances where the NDP Administration was heavily criticised for its lack of priority and empathy.

During its tenure, public servants were made to wait for 8 long years for increments that the then NDP Government promised but never intended to pay, instead taking the money to waste on the Elmore Stoutt High School (ESHS) wall, $40M overrun on the port development project, $7.2M on the BVI Airways project that never left the ground, among other wastage.

It is only after the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) was elected to office on February 25, 2019 that the longstanding issue of increments was addressed. Premier Fahie even instructed that performance appraisals be waived for increment payments.

“Because when you look and see the stress that all the public officers are going through it would be unfair, to go back and evaluate each and every single officer,” Hon Fahie had stated on June 13, 2019.

Further, he stressed, “Every single Officer performed because they are still working to keep the BVI going, since Irma.”