PREMIER Ewart Brown is facing fresh charges of cronyism from within Bermuda’s construction industry over the awarding of Government contracts.Correia Construction Ltd. has recently secured several multi-million dollar contracts to build Government projects, including a new cruise ship pier at Dockyard and a number of emission control centres.

Company boss Dennis Correia is a close personal friend of Dr. Brown, and his wife, Jane Correia is expected to run as a Progressive Labour Party candidate in a soon-to-be-announced General Election.

And a second company owned by Dr. Brown’s cousin, Donal Smith, has been selected to operate the emission control centres once they are built.

Government has set aside an initial $20 million for the new cruise ship ferry terminal and work is expected to begin this summer.

An additional $15 million - part of which may come from the private sector - is needed before the project is completed in time for the 2009 cruise ship season.

Government appointed construction firm Entech Ltd. as project manager for the development, but the bulk of the building work will be carried out by Correia Construction.

Yesterday Entech manager Frank Reed declined to discuss the tendering process, saying that only Government could comment on the matter.

But Mr. Correia insisted the tendering process for the cruise ship pier had been carried out correctly and that his links with the Premier had not been a factor in any decision.

“It was a very long, drawn-out process,” he said. “We were invited by Entech to provide details about our company as other companies were. They got back to us last week saying that we had put in the best deal.”

Mr. Correia also confirmed that his company had been given the Government contract to build a new vehicle emissions test centre.

Last September Government announced it planned to outsource the service to the private sector, which is currently carried out by the Transport Control Department.

Planning permission for the new facility, to be built on the site of the current centre, was granted earlier this month, and it is understood that satellite centres are also planned. Bermuda Emissions Control Ltd., a company owned by Dr. Brown’s cousin, Donal Smith, was selected by Government to operate the centre, which was awarded without first being put out to tender.

Yesterday one construction firm owner questioned the fairness of the tendering process for the new Dockyard cruise ship pier.

He acknowledged that his company had been invited by Entech to supply a company profile - but was given no time to prepare its submission.

He also pointed out that the invitation was made only recently - yet understood that Correia Construction began preparatory work on the project as early as last year.

“We knew that this was going to happen - the writing was on the wall,” he said.

“We were just given a few days to put in our company profile but they’ve known about this job for two years.

“We all know that this sort of thing used to go on under the United Bermuda Party but they were more covert. There’s a difference in style between this Government and the last one.

“It’s also interesting that nobody has got back to us to tell us who got the contract and who hasn’t. We’re talking about public money here. The whole thing is just ridiculous.”