The Mayor of Marystown says the Bay du Nord deal announced this week is “bad news” for Marystown, and the entire province.
The agreement reached with Equinor to develop Bay du Nord includes a funding proponent to build a floating dry dock facility, and 95 per cent of the subsea work to be carried out at Bull Arm.
Open bids will be accepted for topsides work, but there are no guarantees it will be done here.
Mayor Gerry Brenton says the issue was raised during the recent election campaign. He believes at least some of the topsides components should be built in this province.
“This is a major FPSO; this is the biggest thing that we have ever seen, and this should be a Newfoundland project. It should be in Bull Arm, it should be in Marystown, it should be in Stephenville, it should be in Port aux Basques.”
Brenton believes all the topsides work was “given away” for a $200 million fabrication fund.
“For a drydock! How did a dry dock even come into this?” he asked on VOCM Open Line. “I know there’s a need for shipbuilding in Newfoundland.”
“Our council has gone to St. John’s and met with Mr. Parrott and we explained to him the same thing, that there’s a need for a major shipyard here in Newfoundland for all kinds of reasons, but the main reason now is defence.”
