Millennium Development director Shahram Malek said Vancouver taxpayers won’t get stuck paying the tab for up to $100 million worth of loans the city has offered his firm in order to keep construction of the Olympic Village on schedule.
“Any money that may have been loaned is fully secured by the real estate and by other assets as well,” Malek told The Tyee. “There is absolutely no exposure for the taxpayer. None.”
Malek also disputed reports alleging that Millennium won the contract as a result of its ties to former Non-Partisan Association president Paul Barbeau.
“There are no favors involved. There are no risks to the taxpayer. These things I can tell you categorically,” he said.
Malek said he was frustrated by the assumptions about his company that were being made in the press.
“It’s been a bit disheartening,” he said.
“We are meeting all of our obligations. We are paying the full price for the land. We have not gone to the city and asked for concessions. We have stuck to our agreement,” he said.
Malek emphasized that the Olympic Village will be delivered on schedule.
“I won’t say there haven’t been challenges. There have been a lot of challenges. But we’ve overcome them all,” he said. “I have complete confidence the Olympic Village will be handed over to VANOC on or before Oct. 31, 2009.”
I'd like to see a list of the secured assets
I'd like to see a list of those secured assets, and the debt/equity encumbering those assets... and when were those secured assets last valued? (probably before the start of the current market correction).
No risk.....................
............ya sure and do I have a deal for you. If there is no risk, why couldn't they get the money from the bank? Oh yes, the banks are not lending money ..... to projects that are risky.
It seems the Liberal farm team on Vancouver City Council is taking one for the Premier at the city taxpayer's risk!
The Only Upshot
While this is an incredibly disturbing - and highly predicted by many - development, if you'll pardon the pun, this bailout should serve to clean house at 12th and Cambie and comes just in time for voters to come out in record numbers and make sure Ladner's hands never get near our pockets again. It's time to end this reign of no public consultation, in camera meetings on financial matters of public concern and too much power by the City Manager outside the democratic process.
www.bcandbeyond.wordpress.com
Unique International Financial Distress
The Millennium Development group and the city want us to believe they are all unique at this time in history when the financial world is literally coming apart at the seams. 6 months ago Hank Paulson of the US Treasury stated that the US banking system was standing on solid ground and was not in trouble. So for Millennium Development director Shahram Malek to make the following statements, it has to make you wonder.
Before the Montreal 1976 Olympics, Mayor Jean Drapeau famously stated that the city could no more have incurred debt than a man could have a baby. The debt ended up being over $1 billion, the cost of the games was over $2 billion.
Someone doesn't understand what is happening in the world financial system now. Land values around the world have fallen in many areas to the point where the loans/mortgages are greater than the value of the de-valued land. Look at the confidence in real estate in Vancouver in the space of less than 3 months. This lack of confidence by potential buyers has dramatically changed the market from a sellers to a buyers market.
In the past 8 years there has been a financial feeding frenzy on Wall Street, with contractors in Iraq and in Vancouver with our big Olympic projects. Now that the feed for these sharks has been consumed, the sharks have had to turn to other sources to survive.