D. Gibbs: « Nobody has removed it, I will» talking about the Galisbay wreck.

The Collectivité launched a tender on July 17th to remove the boat wreck, which has been lying in the Potence Bay, Marigot, for more than 20 years. Companies were invited to submit their bids by Wednesday August 2nd.

The Collectivité is looking for a company to remove the El Maud, manage the sorting and disposal of the scrap and waste, and undertake the rehabilitation of the seabed. The contract amount is an estimated 400,000€ excluding taxes.

This amount came to a surprise for the territorial councilor, Jules Charville, who questioned president Gibbs about it during the latest territorial council, on July 27th. The leader of Hope Party, who has formed l’Alliance together with Louis Mussington (MJP), had already mentioned this subject on June 29th, when recalling that he knew a Dutch company who would be interested in removing the wreck free of charge. He had mentioned it to the former majority, in the presence of Daniel Gibbs, during the plenary session on March 31st 2016. However, Jules Charville’s proposal has not been taken into account, as it was not carried further.

Jules Charville believes that the mentioned company would no longer accept to undertake the job free of charge, given that the Collectivité has budgeted 400,000€ for it. He further pointed out that a Canadian company had provided a 75,000$ quote for these same works back in 2009. It was addressed at the time to Pascal Averne, then Director General of the Collectivité’s Services. Given the rate discrepancy, the territorial councilor feels that there is a risk of «wasting public money» when maintaining the contract at 400,000€.

The president Daniel Gibbs has reassured his colleague that everything has been done «legally », that the terms of reference have been issued and can be accessed. «I will be attacked because it costs 400,000€, I will be attacked because we could have done it for free, in any case I want that wreck to be removed. It was an electoral promise, and I will take it to completion. That shipwreck was there, nobody has removed it, I will» responded the president.