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The MBA appeared before the committee; and I have to thank the MBA for coming along, because they put things to us in a different perspective. They went to the issue of a delay in the actual commitment of a job. Whether it be on account of a budgetary process or prolonged decision-making in terms of the planning of the works, we find that the construction period becomes very compressed; and, one way or another, the community pays for that delay, because there are extra costs. The committee has made a recommendation in response to that. I think their attitude to the whole process is really shown up by this sentence in a quote in the report:

Now, a practical construction company just rolls its eyes and says, “But this is madness, you know, if it was my money ...”.

That is the language which the MBA used in response to the Government's management of these matters. The committee has made this recommendation:

The committee recommends that the government institute an appropriate process to improve liaison between the agencies expending capital works funds and the private firms undertaking the work, in order to minimise the waste of public funds on inappropriate scheduling of works.

Business has had a strong shot at the Government there, and rightly so, because they have not been able to respond to the concerns of business. Do not tell me that you do not even talk to them! It is an open, consultative council-style government that does not even talk to business to find out what their concerns are! Is that another promise? What a joke!

The report states:

The committee emphasises the obvious point that this year the Draft Capital Works Program has been examined by the Assembly committee that has responsibility for environment matters ... The committee is aware of demands by community groups that governments adopt the requirements of ecologically sustainable development in their capital works expenditure.

One of our recommendations, which is extremely important for me as the environment spokesperson, in particular, is this one:

The committee recommends that the government make it a requirement that proposed new capital works meet the need for ecologically sustainable development. Where the proposed works involve the development of new office and facilities infrastructure, an ‘Eco-Office’ of the Administration should be resourced to provide advice on whether the plans satisfy best environmental practice.

That was raised by my colleague Ms Horodny. It is a very important recommendation that the committee is making. I am sure that she will have something to say on that.

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