The joint venture between GEBE and Vidanova Pension Fund (see Tuesday newspaper) probably raised a few eyebrows.
It aims to realise affordable housing on a plot of land owned by the utilities provider at Hope Estate.
Some might question a government-owned essential company getting into that kind of business, particularly one still struggling with the impact of a ransomware attack more than 18 months later. However, these things are not mutually exclusive.
If currently unused property can proverbially “kill two birds with one stone” by boosting GEBE’s affected finances while building reasonably-priced homes for primarily its employees, there is in principle nothing wrong with that. As such activity falls outside government’s direct control, proper checks and balances must be in place to ensure good corporate governance at all times.
However, organisations dealing with public funds becoming involved in private sector dealings is nothing new. The retirement of White and Yellow Cross Care Foundation (WYCCF) chairman Michel Soons after 33 years was reported in the same edition.
With him at the helm, St. Martin’s Home and the old St. Rose Hospital on Frontstreet were redeveloped into the St. Rose Shopping Arcade. The money this real estate project raised went to – among other things – building the present home for the elderly in St. John’s Estate, a residence for the disabled at Sister Basilia Center, a guided-living facility at Guana Bay and the district-nursing programme.
One wonders whether the contractor by trade and his board could even have accomplished this today, with all the rules, regulations and procedural requirements that now apply to collectively-funded institutions. What it nevertheless showed is that creative leadership goes a long way.
