The key players in the Government’s airport redevelopment plans have pledged transparency and employment opportunities for Bermudians.

Aecon’s president, Steve Nackan; its executive chairman, John Beck; and Canadian Commercial Corporation’s (CCC) president, Martin Zablocki; joined Finance Minister Bob Richards to outline their respective roles in a deal that has been the subject of political and public criticism.

Mr Nackan said the project was still in the “early development stage”, but he hoped that if the Private Public Partnership arrangement was agreed on, that ground could be broken in June next year, with the airport completed in 40 months.

He said his firm had already invested about $1 million in the initial stages of the project, but had done so at its own risk.

Mr Nackan told The Royal Gazette: “As for employees, our general philosophy and approach is to ‘embrace and enhance’ the existing team.

“Given the early stage of the project’s development though, we have not yet had the opportunity to meet them all and assess skills.

“But at a high level we don’t foresee a need to deviate from the approach outlined above.”

Asked if he had been surprised by the level of criticism and opposition to the airport project, he said: “It has been our experience that these developments tend to court a lot of controversy.

“This type of project involves many stakeholders and it affects the whole community, so it’s no surprise to see a lot of political tension and debate.

“Some of the issues have been challenging to go through but this goes with putting together a complicated infrastructure project in any country.”

The press conference came as the airport proposals continued to take flak from various quarters of the community, after revelations by the grass-roots group the People’s Campaign about e-mails between Mr Richards, CCC and Aecon.

Mr Richards has repeatedly rebutted claims that the e-mails suggest impropriety, even as a Progressive Labour Party delegation took Opposition concerns about the project to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London.

The PLP have called repeatedly for the project to be halted and put before a request for proposal. The Opposition also claim that Aecon, which has ties to Bermuda via Somers Construction, was clearly the preferred contractor from the start.

Mr Zablocki maintained that CCC was committed to transparency and high ethical standards, and described the project as a “low-risk procurement option”.

He said: “CCC works very closely with Canadian companies when pursuing projects abroad. In many cases, Canadian companies engage CCC when there are opportunities that can benefit from government-to-government contracting.

“That is the case for the proposed solution to redevelop the LF Wade International Airport. Aecon brought this project to CCC’s attention after conducting its own due diligence on the opportunity.

“Bringing the project to CCC is just a first step. Once Aecon formally brought this opportunity to CCC’s attention, CCC reviewed the potential project to determine if it was a good fit for its government-to-government contracting model and assessed Aecon’s ability to deliver on the contract by carrying out its established due diligence process and thoroughly reviewing the company’s business ethics and managerial, technical, and financial capabilities.”

Both Mr Nackan and Mr Zablocki pointed to the success of the Quito Airport Project in Ecuador that both organisations were involved in, and which now operates with 99 per cent local workforce.

Mr Richards said the CCC and Aecon solution was “tailor-made” for Bermuda and that the project would employ hundreds of Bermudians in the construction and operational phases.

Asked whether he called the press conference to “clear up a mess”, he replied: “I would not call it that. There has been a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding, some justified, some not.

“This press conference brings clarity. It’s a chance to understand what we are trying to achieve. It’s a chance to see the people we are doing business with, look at their credentials and track records and see the kind of organisations they represent. When you look at the characterisations that have been made of these business partners, it is completely off base and unjustified.”

The Finance Minister’s comments came a few hours after he announced the conclusion of an independent appraisal of the airport project that looked at the method of procurement for using CCC.

Mr Richards said: “To improve the value of this unique proposal, and recognising the anxiety in the public domain with regard to the proposal, the Ministry of Finance, in conjunction with Her Majesty’s Government in London, engaged the services of Deloitte, following a competitive tendering process, to conduct an independent appraisal of the method of procurement for the redevelopment of Bermuda’s airport using the CCC.”

The Deloitte report will be tabled before the House of Assembly.

• For a full version of the CCC statement, click on the PDF file under “Related Media”.