THE Parliamentary Opposition has expressed serious concern over the proposed public servants housing scheme describing it as ‘fishy’ arrangements undertaken by top Government officials with an Asian company.
In a statement on Monday, the Parliamentary Opposition said, whilst they welcomed the initiative by the Government to build 5,000 new homes for public servants; the Opposition is concerned that the Asian developer Skyline Investment Group Company and Solomon Islands Development Corporation Limited (SIDCL) have shady and questionable backgrounds.
The statement said, it gets dodgier with the Company Haus records revealed that the Asian developer, Skyline Investment has the same company and individual addresses as that of the Office of the Prime Minister & Cabinet (OPMC) as their contact address.
“Why is the Skyline Investment Group using the same address (C/- P.O Box G1) as that of the OPMC? What has the OPMC got to do with a private entity? What is the link here? Is this company operating from within the OPMC?” the statement asked.
The Parliamentary Opposition statement further added that it also gets fishier that the other company Solomon Islands Development Corporation Limited (SIDCL) which will collaborate with the Asian developer, just registered under the Company Haus on 22nd July 2015 (2 weeks ago); with one of the directors being the Special Secretary to Prime Minister (SSPM) Rence Sore. This is according to information gathered from the Company Haus.
“We are calling on the OPMC and the SSPM to clarify this as the details in the Company Haus clearly link the OPMC to the Asian investor. This really stinks to the bone,” the statement said.
The Opposition statement said, this revelation can be best described as a ‘scam’ and that OPMC needs to clarify why and how the company is linked to OPMC and is using the OPMC address.
“Whilst the Government sees fit to grant this construction project to Skyline Investment a tourism registered company and SIDCL a company registered as a statutory corporation, it raises more concerns than answers given that both companies have no clear track record of construction of projects of any sort,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Opposition calls on the Government to explain all the details of the deal and the MOU.
“Where is this piece of land; who is the Government acquiring this land from; what is the price, and how is this project to be managed?” the Opposition asked.