Senators Reject Additional Funding for Stadium, Demand Contractor Testify Under Oath

The contractor behind the long-delayed Paul E. Joseph Stadium project may soon be required to testify under oath before the V.I. Legislature. A lawmaker has proposed subpoenaing GEC LLC to account for the slow progress of construction.

Senator Kenneth Gittens’s commitment came after an extensive discussion on the project’s status during Tuesday’s Committee on Budget, Appropriations, and Finance meeting. Of the $32 million allocated, over $25 million has already been spent. Now, the Department of Public Works (DPW) says the Government of the Virgin Islands is reviewing a contractor’s delay claim, which could cost between $1.5 million and $2 million. The delay arose after changes to the stadium’s footprint were required following the 2017 hurricanes when it was discovered the project was located in what DPW describes as a “floodway.” The Federal Emergency Management Agency mandated modifications, but approval was not immediate. This, DPW Commissioner Derek Gabriel explained, is why the department is even considering the delay claim.

However, it’s a request that several lawmakers say they are not amenable to. “Nobody don't come and ask me for no more money. Me ain’t voting for it,” declared Senator Franklin Johnson. He was the first to initiate discussion on the stadium’s status, deeply disturbed by the apparent lack of an appropriate workforce. “I don't think we're going to get this project complete with this particular company,” lamented Mr. Johnson. Tawana Nicholas, attached to the Super Project Management Office, verified that recently, there have been ‘significantly less than 10 on site.”

According to committee chair Senator Novelle Francis Jr., “We should be ashamed to back some additional funding for Paul E. Joseph stadium when this has been delayed for all these years.” He complained that GEC “has really been bad in all of these projects.”