THE Economic Development Minister is due to face questions today about the ferry tender process after a last-minute public hearing was called by the Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel.
Panel chair Deputy Montfort Tadier confirmed late yesterday afternoon that Deputy Kirsten Morel had agreed to the 3.30pm hearing after some “initial resistance”.
He first asked the minister in charge of negotiating the process to secure a new ferry contract for the next 15 years at the end of last week, writing on social media: “It was clear at Wednesday’s States session that there were still many questions that States Members wanted answering.
“We would also be pleased to consider questions from the public that may be relevant to the current ferry situation. Email: scrutiny@gov.je.”
Deputy Morel revealed in the States last week that the months-long tender process had been abandoned after both bidders failed to win the contract.
That came after the pan-Island process had fallen apart in October, when Guernsey announced their preferred bidder as Brittany Ferries (the parent company of Condor), which left Jersey scrambling.
Deputy Morel then invited Condor to extend their seven-month contract, which Condor refused after claiming they had not been notified of this invitation.
Meetings are now due to be held with both Condor Ferries and Danish firm DFDS next week, Deputy Morel said. Officers would provide a preferred bidder recommendation by the end of this month, he explained last week.
Speaking to the JEP yesterday afternoon, Deputy Tadier said: “We would like to ask whether we can have confidence in the process that’s now going on.”
The public can attend the hearing in the Blampied Room of the States Building or watch the online stream.
