Government Waste

[Ringwraith]

There seem to be quite a few different threads covering various government scandals, overspends etc and also a general lack of faith in the people who are running our island at the moment.

 

Without trawling through all the different threads maybe it is worth listing here how much the government has ‘overspent’ or seemingly wasted on each project as it seems that the following (at least) have gone way over what they should have cost-

 

Hospital.

IRIS

MEA

Tynwald

Incinerator

+ others that anyone else can think of.

 

It may be like going over old ground but I am interested in finding the TOTAL amount that the current bunch have wasted, especially as so many people are crying out for first time buyer homes etc.

 

It is bad that nobody seems to care and nobody ever seems to take the rap for anything, maybe if we got the total amount of money wasted over the past few years we can get some kind of perspective on the problem.

[Billy One Mate]

You are of course assuming that the original budgets were correct.

[sarahc]

At the same time shall we estimate the standard of the buidlings etc we would have got if they had been the original price?

 

e.g. Hospital: shed, Witch Doctor. Incinerator: camp fire.

[Lonan3]

If calculating the overspend, it would only be fair to take inflationary factors into account. Most contracts in the building trade specify that the estimate is according to current costs and that increases in materials etc will be charged at the same rate.

[teapot]

And whilst calculating all this, can we add to the list - how much is being spent on trips away from the Island to promote the place! Airfares (always Business Class), hotel accommodation; expenses etc etc etc., and whether we're getting value for money.

[nipper]

You are of course assuming that the original budgets were correct.

 

Someone is paid to do a job of the budget. We are not in a situation of runaway inflation or indeed any other unforeseen catastrophes.

 

Time and time again 'they' keep getting it 'wrong'.

 

From the schoolboy budgetting his pocket money to the 'housewife' running a home (apologies for the non pc term there, but you know what I'm getting at) to the er, government and their quantity surveyors and mega £million project managers etc . . .

 

they all know how to budget.

 

Oh, they know alright.

 

...and they know how to rip YOU off, in order to bulge their and their pals' hip pockets.

[Higgy]

You are of course assuming that the original budgets were correct.

 

Someone is paid to do a job of the budget. We are not in a situation of runaway inflation or indeed any other unforeseen catastrophes.

 

Time and time again 'they' keep getting it 'wrong'.

 

From the schoolboy budgetting his pocket money to the 'housewife' running a home (apologies for the non pc term there, but you know what I'm getting at) to the er, government and their quantity surveyors and mega £million project managers etc . . .

 

they all know how to budget.

 

Oh, they know alright.

 

...and they know how to rip YOU off, in order to bulge their and their pals' hip pockets.

 

Nothing to do with the present subject, but I heard on the radio this morning that Donald Gelling and Alan Bell are in Washington at the moment. Apparently away on business...........nice little trip away for the lads. They might get a bit of Xmas shopping done at the same time

[manxchatterbox]

When is there going to be the vote on supplementary expenditure for the 'Wedding Cake' Government Offices "overspend" - why don't the numbskulls do fixed price contracts???

 

Why do Ministers keep having to come back to get Tynwald to agree to fund budget over-runs? If they can't control a project within budget they should resign or sack the Civil Servant who is supposed to be overseeing the project for fiscal incompetance.

 

Is it just because the money isn't their own they think its a bottomless pit and can spend whatever they like??

 

The new Hospice deserves a grant/hand out more so than some extra swanky offices with marble showers and gold taps, mahogany furniture and blue shagpile carpets.

[Billy One Mate]

Something that was posted a while ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Here we go again more tax payers money to finance additional costs on a building project on the Isle of Man.

 

The facts so far;

 

Tenders sought from 4 contractors of which the lowest recieved was from a joint venture company made up of a local builder and a UK builder. Governments design team say that this lowest tender recieved was not value for money and so they advertised for more tenderers and after recieving an application from a Contractor from Northern Ireland (who had never carried out any work previously on the Island) he was invited to tender and Government recieved a quoation considerably cheaper than the original price and so he got the job.

 

Mr Brown last year stated publically in the local press that the job was going very well and would be finished in July of this year and on budget.

 

STOP PRESS Today six months from completion Mr Brown announces its going to cost more because of rot they have JUST FOUND (some sixteen months after the job had started) and because tipping costs increased.(everybody in the Islands building industry knew they were going up before the job was priced) and also its not going to be finished on time but will be ready for Octobers sitting.

 

I hate to say it again but I told you so some seven months ago.

 

 

So we are at last being told some of the truth about another Capital Scheme that has gone wrong and this one is right under the noses of the Government with all the expertise that exists in there, Architects, Clerk of Works, Treasury etc. We are now being told that it is unlikely that they will be able to use the building in January of this year and the word on the street is that they will be lucky if they get in before Easter. I gather that Mr Brown refused to say how much extra that this delay is likely to cost but Mr Karran did mention a figure of 2 million which would be an increase of about 27% on the original quotation.

 

I know many will say stop the whinging and this type of thing happens everywhere and is not just exclusive to the Isle of Man, but just think about it and work out the figures of over expenditure on many recent building projects.

New Hospital, Incinerator, Iris and the treatment plant, MEA and Government Offices. My estimation is some 250 million and a lot of problems still with many of the schemes. This is very SERIOUS and cannot be continually sustained by the Islands Economy. WE NEED TO LEARN LESSONS AND VERY QUICKLY.

[TheTool]

Well i wonder if the wedding cake will end up like this

 

Another waste of tax payers cash

[asitis]

I think it is generally acknowledged by many people I have spoken to, who incidentally know a lot more about Island politics than I do, that the current administration is one of the worst the Island has ever had.

 

I hope the next election solves some of the problems, it is just too easy to spend other peoples money and then be comforted by the nepotism and the coming together of the 'leather chairs'

 

The Island is too nice a place to be blighted by a Government like this.

[sirdick]

I quite like that Scottish Parliament building.

 

I'm dubious about the next elections, I've never thought the way we vote works too well - so many people get voted in yet I only have a say over one of them. And generally where I am we don't get much of a choice. I hope there will be a lot of new faces otherwise it will just be the same old people again.

[cheesemonster2005]

I quite like that Scottish Parliament building.

 

I'm dubious about the next elections, I've never thought the way we vote works too well - so many people get voted in yet I only have a say over one of them. And generally where I am we don't get much of a choice. I hope there will be a lot of new faces otherwise it will just be the same old people again.

 

The Scottish parliament building is nice but the Scottish Government is a big con. I can't understand why the Scots aren't pissed off that their parliament can do fuck all. And the Welsh - their assembly is nothing more than a city council. Big joke.

 

Is any form of proportional representation used on the island?

[teapot]

When is there going to be the vote on supplementary expenditure for the 'Wedding Cake' Government Offices "overspend" - why don't the numbskulls do fixed price contracts???

 

Why do Ministers keep having to come back to get Tynwald to agree to fund budget over-runs? If they can't control a project within budget they should resign or sack the Civil Servant who is supposed to be overseeing the project for fiscal incompetance.

 

Is it just because the money isn't their own they think its a bottomless pit and can spend whatever they like??

 

The new Hospice deserves a grant/hand out more so than some extra swanky offices with marble showers and gold taps, mahogany furniture and blue shagpile carpets.

 

I think at the next sitting of Tynwald - 13 Dec

[Billy One Mate]

AT THE HALF WAY STAGE IT WAS ON BUDGET AND ON TIME

 

 

 

 

JACKANORY

 

 

 

JACKANORY 2