Government has released designs for a new “iconic” airport and ferry terminal which will cost an estimated $300-$400 million to build. I suspect that “iconic” is another word for “costs twice as much”. That’s on top of the projected $315 million for a new hospital and $65 million (seems very low) for a new causeway. [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Transport'
Vehicle Insurance
June 11th, 2009 · Comments Off · Transport
When the electronic vehicle tagging system was launched, there was much ballyhoo about how it was going to clamp down on unregistered vehicles. The large cost of the system was justified based on the future dollars it would raise for Government. There was even talk about expanding the tracking points … which makes it sound [...]
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Backbench Power
May 27th, 2009 · Comments Off · Bermuda Politics, Transport
Bermuda’s Parliament is pretty out-dated and obscure. There is little forward visibility into the legislative agenda for the year, and it is hard for the public to get advance notice of the schedule even for specific meetings of the House. What’s the big secret? It is difficult for the public to get advance copies of [...]
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Premier Cuts Off Media
May 6th, 2009 · Comments Off · Bermuda Politics, Media, Transport
The Premier has ordered Government communications officers to “reduce their contact” with the Royal Gazette and the Mid-Ocean News. He informed the newspapers that his move was designed “to reduce the rancour and lower the toxicity that have become the norm”. This, to put it bluntly, is sign of power and control run amok. It [...]
Tags:Press Freedom·Spin Doctor
Perks
April 29th, 2009 · Comments Off · Accountability, Transport
The radio news reports this morning that the “official car” assigned to Minister Cox (who does not drive) has allegedly had its GP license plates swapped for less visible normal plates and is being used as a personal/household car by a senior politician. Nice perk if you can get it. Who makes the decisions on [...]
Tags:GP plates
Where are the Police?
April 5th, 2009 · Comments Off · Transport
There was another death on the roads last night. This time it was the driver of a car, killed in a fiery head-on collision, rather than a bike rider. WTF? It is the beginning of April and we already have had 5 deaths on the roads. It looks like we will hit last year’s gory [...]
Tags:police
Wacky Stats
March 24th, 2009 · Comments Off · Accountability, Development, Tourism, Transport
We were treated to a funny show on Friday, when the Premier dragged out a Government Computer Guy to explain why the Tourism stats were wrong. Why him? Was the Rat Control Guy unavailable? Did all the Cabinet Office sycophants get out of the room first? The Tourism stats have been unreliable for many years. [...]
Tags:Statistics
Ministry of Silly Numbers
March 20th, 2009 · Comments Off · Bermuda Politics, Tourism, Transport
The Premier today announced that, oops, Government found another accounting problem and that air arrivals last year were actually down a hell of a lot more than previously admitted. In fact, air arrivals were down 13.72% instead of 4.62%. Ooops. Tourism spending was down 22.3% – before the recession even got rolling. That’s pretty bad, [...]
Tags:Statistics
Fire and Brimstone
March 11th, 2009 · Comments Off · Accountability, Bermuda Politics, Transport
It appears that the Auditor General has in fact given a Qualified Opinion on the Consolidated Fund of the Bermuda Government. This is the audit equivalent of a huge red flag with flashing lights, a siren, and dancing girls … and will surely catch a lot of attention regarding what is going on with Bermuda’s [...]
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Tourism
February 10th, 2009 · Comments Off · Tourism, Transport
The 2008 Tourism numbers are out – we are down 12 percent before the damn recession even started. Spending is down even further. In 2008, hotels had only 59 percent average daily occupancy and are reporting advance bookings for 2009 are 20-30 percent below that (which is expected based on similar forecasts from the US). [...]
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