“Local contractors and consultants who compete with foreign companies should be provided with the same or equivalent benefits as enjoyed by those foreign companies and should be protected from unfair competition through matters such as soft loans.”
—The Uff Report‘s 43rd recommendation, on the benefits awarded to foreign contractors.

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This article will delve into the large-scale program for 5,000 new apartments to be built for HDC by China Gezhouba Group International Engineering Co Ltd (CGGC). I am writing this on the night before our 57th anniversary of Independence and my reflections are bittersweet, dwelling on those old discussions about how, for many countries in the Global South, Independence was only symbolised as a spectacle. We used to call it Flag and Anthem Independence, all form with little substance.

As the fight for transparency in our Public Business is waged against those officials who are hostile to the truth, my mind runs on the widespread recent discussion on the proper performance of the National Anthem; the re-emergence of the colonial offense of Sedition; the bizarre, backward, dress-codes to enter public facilities (no sleeveless, no shorts, no cap or hat, no this and none of that) and so much else in the same vein. At the same time as the endless discussions on these issues, we have a cultivated, enforced silence on the huge deals and arrangements within which our Public Assets are bargained. Continue reading “Property Matters – In-Dependence?” →