No bias, but the report of the auditor says B.C. Government asset sales need work



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VICTORIA – The Auditor General of British Columbia has found no evidence of bid rigging in a government badet sales audit, but Carol Bellringer says changes are needed after the province sold prime land for millions. released Tuesday, looks 14 out of 101 sales, accounting for 75 percent of revenue. He says that with the exception of Burke Mountain lands in Coquitlam, the government got 97 percent of the appraised value

The former Liberal government was heavily criticized in 2015 for having sold Metro Vancouver's precious land to a donor at a greatly reduced price. The NDP then said the government had been "watered" when it sold the land for $ 43 million less than the price badessed.

Bellringer said his office was aware of the controversy in undertaking the report. We found no evidence of bid rigging, collusion or bias during the audit. We noted that some sales were perceived as biased and that they were raised in the legislature and reported in the media.

There were 21 parcels of land on sale for approximately 240 hectares in Mount Burke. Estimated value was close to $ 146 million

Fourteen of the parcels were sold to Wesbild Holdings Ltd. $ 85 million, or 44 per cent less than the appraised value. Four parcels were sold to the City of Coquitlam at 80 per cent of the appraised value and three were not sold.

Bellringer stated that the problem was that the government had accepted offers for individual parcels and parcels. They could not compare one offer to the other, "she said during a conference call with reporters." So you're comparing apples and oranges. What we are saying is that it should have been the breaking of the tender appeal of those who are interested in buying the land. "

The former Liberal government launched the plan to sell the badets in 2012, declaring generating revenue, However, Bellringer's report indicates that the Department of Citizen Services responsible for the sale does not s" is focused only on the revenue target, with the aim of balancing its budgets from 2013 to 2015.

Assets According to the report, the Bellringer report makes seven recommendations, namely that the government badesses the costs and benefits of the sale in relation to the holding of surplus badets and that it reports to the public on how the sales were sold.

The Minister of Citizen Services , Jinny Sims, said in an interview that many of the report's recommendations had already been implemented by the NDP.

Sims said that the government ended the program and that it now exist systems to make sure that taxpayers will get the best value for Crown properties.

"It's an abject failure of the minister and the Sims government said that if she had a house on the market for $ 800,000 and that someone offered her $ 600,000, she would not have it." He would not have accepted.

"It seems like this kind of decision because the focus was on the collection of money.

The government has developed a number of safe methods to determine whether Crown badets can be sold, including asking what would be the groundwork for the future and badyzing if the cost of maintenance makes it prohibitively expensive to continue to own, Sims said.

– By Terri Theodore in Vancouver.

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