The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Village Road businesses are urging the Government to “not drag out” the provision of tax breaks and other financial compensation for their roadworks “nightmare” with some firms preparing individual damages claims.

Branville McCartney, the former Democratic National Alliance (DNA) leader, told Tribune Business that his Halsbury Chambers law firm was in the process of drafting a letter to Alfred Sears KC, minister of works and public utilities, setting out its case for $250,000-plus in compensation after an “outage” completely “knocked out” its computer system on July 15 last year.

Asserting that this claim was “separate from the discussions” between the Government and the Village Road Collective, which represents all area businesses in their fight to secure some financial redress, he added that while the Davis administration’s latest words were “encouraging” it should “not delay” addressing their plight.

The Halsbury Chambers chief spoke after Michael Halkitis, minister of economic affairs, told last week’s Prime Minister’s Office media briefing that the Government was readying “a counter-proposal” to the Village Road Collective’s submission for tax breaks and other economic stimulus to offset lost sales revenue due to the roadworks.

“As you know, the Village Road businesses have approached the Government to bring some relief.... to in some way compensate for some of the disruption and also some of the damage to property on the occasion of the Village Road Improvement Project,” Mr Halkitis said.

“We have had several meetings with them. They have submitted to us a list of businesses and a proposal for some form of relief they would like to see. We are studying that, and expect to come back with a counter-proposal very shortly so this can move forwards to a conclusion.

“The Ministry of Finance will be working in conjunction with the Ministry of Works because there are some instances where slight repairs have to be made to drive ways and walls etc.... We are working with the Ministry of Works to finalise that, and expect it to be done very shortly...... That’s something that’s coming along very well, and we expect to have that concluded in the coming weeks.”

However, one Village Road businessman voiced frustration over his personal efforts to obtain relief and other forms of compensation. Brent Fox, Montague Motors’ principal, told Tribune Business he felt he was being “brushed off” after suffering an estimated $165,000-$200,000 loss of sales revenue due to the roadworks and the inability of customers to access his company.

Readily acknowledging that any compensation offered by the Government will “not come close” to offsetting these losses, he added: “I’m not asking for the moon and the sky.” However, Mr Fox said the prospect of Business Licence fee waivers - his is around $8,0000 - had receded for a year at least given that the March 31 deadline for payment has already come and gone.

Mr McCartney, though, said Mr Halkitis’ comments do offer some hope. “If he said that it’s encouraging to hear,” he added of the minister’s comments. “Nothing has transpired in terms of any concrete details from the Government in terms of their stance on compensation as to what they’re looking to do.

“I know they [the Collective] had a few meetings previously, and the Government at the time seemed to be open to discussing some form of compensation for business owners in regards to the Village Road roadworks. If he’s saying a counter-proposal, that I guess means they’re studying the proposal by the group, they’re considering it, looking at it and coming back.

“What he’s saying is that they want to negotiate, which is to be expected dealing with the Government. They’d want to negotiate what type of compensation they will give the business owners.” Mr McCartney, though, urged the Davis administration not to stall any relief effort over the roadworks, whose completion date was extended several times and lasted for around 15-16 months.

“Certainly it’s been more than a year in terms of the roadworks, and inconvenience and loss as a result of that,” he said. “We’d certainly want the Government to not delay and, if they’re talking from the group standpoint in relation to a counter-claim, let’s get the counter-proposal in so discussions can be had.

“We certainly don’t want them to drag this out. It’s been going on for too long, too long, and caused tremendous loss among businesses and a lot of inconvenience among businesses and residents alike. The roadworks were really a nightmare.”

Revealing that individual businesses will have compensation claims beyond what the Village Road Collective is seeking, Mr McCartney said different companies and landowners had suffered varying degrees of damage to their properties. In the case of Halsbury Chambers, he added that its parking lot was a “complete mess” with asphalt damage caused when construction equipment was parked there. Landscaping, too, had suffered.

And Mr McCartney also disclosed that his law firm is in the process of writing to Mr Sears, as well as the main Village Road contractor, Knowles Construction, over the loss of computer equipment and IT systems that brought it to a two-week “standstill” last summer.

Confirming that he had “briefly discussed” the matter with Emil Knowles, Knowles Construction’s principal, the former DNA leader said: “I’d imagine by next week that the minister will get a letter copied to Mr Knowles about the damage occasioned on July 15. That’s separate from the discussions of the group.

“That incident that occurred took out my equipment, knocked out the computers, Internet, alarm systems and cameras. We were at a standstill for almost two weeks trying to replace that equipment and the like. We’ve started to craft a letter about the circumstances, damages and loss as a result, which will include the replacement of equipment and loss of business.

“We had initially estimated it at over $100,000 in terms of equipment and loss of business when we were going through it earlier last week. Now I’m probably looking at close to $250,000-plus for the outage and loss of business. That aspect is now $250,000-plus when we were calculating that up last week.”

Mr Fox, meanwhile, said he had failed to achieve a satisfactory resolution despite visiting Mr Halkitis’ office several times. “They were supposed to have a meeting with all the Village Road people to knock out the details and it never happened,” he added. “I was holding off, but I have to pay my Business Licence this week. This would have been the time to deal with that issue because this is when we submit our Business Licence fee payments.

“I was just delaying another few days. Now I have to pay the full fee and the money is gone. There’s nothing happening as far as I am concerned. I don’t see any sort of compensation coming. How can they address what is going on on Village Road unless they take into account facts and figures. Every time I take them the accounts, the loss of sales, they say they don’t need that. How can they address it if they don’t see what we’re talking about?”

Besides a Business Licence fee waiver, Mr Fox said he was also hoping Montague Motors could be granted a VAT “holiday” lasting for at least two quarters or six months. “Anything at all,” he urged. “If you are even considering that, you should be reaching out to business people for facts and figures. I’m somewhere between $165,000 and $200,000 down. It could even be a little bit higher.

“I’m not asking for the moon and the sky. I don’t expect them to compensate me for all the money I lost. They could help me by giving a waiver on the Business Licence fee or waiver on VAT. That does not come close to what I lost. My sales were down 30-40 percent over the roadworks months. It adds up: $10,000-$12,000 here, $15,000 there.”