The RTA obtained proper approval for the amending deed and instituted procedures to manage the works covered in the deed. But the handling of the amending deed is open to criticism. The RTA and CCM negotiated the deed after the probity mechanisms were dismantled. The deed was not made public, amidst lack of clarity about whether the RTA was required to publish a summary. The RTA was not required to table a summary of the FAD in Parliament, and so the FAD was not made public until Parliament demanded all the project documents. We expand on these concerns below.
The existence of the FAD was not made public until the second release of CCT documents to the Parliament in late 2005.
For all Public Private Partnership projects, the agency is required to prepare a contract summary, which is checked by the Auditor-General and then tabled in Parliament within 120 days of signing the contract. There is no similar requirement applying to any amendment of the substantive contract.
There was considerable delay in tabling the CCT contract summary -until February 2004.
Volume Four of the Auditor-General's 2005 Report to Parliament noted this delay in the tabling of the substantive CCT contract summary. It also recommended that any contract amendments be subject to similar summary and checking provisions as the substantive contract.
We understand that the Government has indicated that it will accept this recommendation, but has not yet acted on it.
We also have concerns about how the decisions around the FAD were made. There was no detailed cost itemisation available. Even now there is insufficient information publicly available in an understandable form.