Is there substantial excess capacity in the utility section of the Sandals Whitehouse hotel, and if so, to whom should the responsibility be attributed?

These are among the more contentious elements of the Sandals Whitehouse issue that will have to be settled in the final report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament.

The PAC began consideration of the draft report on its own hearings into the Sandals Whitehouse issue, with that item giving rise to a spirited debate.

In the draft 'Conclusions of the Committee', item (iii) states that "Substantial excess capacity was provided in such areas as the laundry and air conditioning systems".

This position, if accepted in the final report, would be in keeping with the view of the consultant on the mechanical and engineering aspects of the contract, and some others who appeared before the committee.

It would run counter, however, to the assertions of Sandals Chairman Gordon 'Butch' Stewart and other members of his team that there was no excess capacity in the "back-of-the-house" facilities and therefore none of the US$43 million should be attributed to this factor. The significance of this issue was whether the Sandals connections in the joint venture company were responsible for ordering items in excess of the capacity originally projected.

Sandals Resorts International has maintained throughout the inquiry that it was responsible for only US$1.8 million of the cost overrun.

Auditor General Adrian Strachan, who contributed to the drafting of the report, based on the issues raised in the proceedings, asked whether, in light of the competing claims on that matter, the contentious conclusion should be removed.

Strongly rejected

This was strongly rejected by government members on the committee - Dr. Morais Guy, Dr. Patrick Harris and John Junor - while the chairman, Mike Henry, wondered aloud whether it was a correctconclusion. The claim of excess capacity had not been proven to his satisfaction, according to Mr. Henry.

The Auditor General reminded the committee, however, that the forensic audit team's report was "very strong" on the issue of excess capacity, as was the testimony of the consulting engineer on the project.

The PAC has, for more than six months, been holding its own inquiry into the controversial Sandals Whitehouse project. It was asked, among other things, to determine the magnitude of the cost overrun; what contributed to it; and what breakdown of the systems took place, and to make appropriate recommendations.