Troubled waters over cruise ships for storm victims

September 30, 2005
WASHINGTON: An investigation has begun into the Bush administration's payment of $US236 million ($310 million) to rent three cruise ships to house victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The payment means that every week each evacuee on the three ships, which now sit more than half empty in the Mississippi River, cost taxpayers more than twice the cost of a seven-day Caribbean cruise.

The six-month contract, awarded to Carnival Cruise Lines without a bidding process, is the latest of dozens now under investigation by government auditors amid claims of price hiking and political favouritism.

On Capitol Hill, government auditors from six federal agencies told a congressional committee that hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts were being investigated, particularly those alleged to have been awarded to companies with ties to the White House and Republican Party.

The cruise line contract appears to have been made in the panic that gripped the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the chaos after Katrina struck, rather than a case of political payback.

Republicans and Democrats have expressed disbelief at the price. Tom Coburn, a Republican senator from Oklahoma, calculated that if the ships were full, with 7116 evacuees, for six months, the price per evacuee would be $US1275 a week. A seven-day Caribbean cruise could be bought for $US599 a person.

The inspector-general of the Homeland Security department announced this week that he was investigating how several companies were awarded contracts.

The largest contract so far awarded - $US568 million for debris removal - went to a Florida company with ties to the Republican Governor of Mississippi.

More than 80 per cent of the $US1.5 billion of contracts already signed were awarded without bidding, or under limited competition. Fluor Corporation of California, and Bechtel National Inc, major donors to the Republican party, have also been awarded contracts to provide temporary housing.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin launched a plan yesterday to repopulate his hurricane-wrecked city by next week, as hundreds of thousands remained homeless along the Gulf of Mexico.

"Come in, inspect your property, if you want to stay, you're free to stay," Mr Nagin said. "We're also allowing people to come in to look and leave, and those areas will be the areas that are flooded."

If the first phase went well, he said, residents in the rest of the city, except the twice-flooded Lower Ninth Ward, would be allowed back home on October 5, more than one month after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast.

Mr Nagin wanted to start repopulating his city last week, but was forced to suspend his program as Hurricane Rita swirled across the Gulf of Mexico.

The Katrina death toll rose to 1132 yesterday as 11 more fatalities were confirmed in Louisiana, authorities said. There are 10 confirmed deaths from Rita.

In Washington, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco pleaded with US legislators in a congressional hearing to speed up aid for her state, which has suffered devastating damage from the two hurricanes.

The double blows of hurricanes Katrina and Rita are likely to shave up to one percentage point off US third-quarter economic growth, but not cause a recession, a senior White House adviser said yesterday.

"There are various estimates about the third quarter ... numbers between half and 1 per cent," said Ben Bernacke, chairman of White House economic advisers.

The Times, AFP

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Greece Offers Cruise Ship For New Orleans AidSeptember 10: The Greek government has chartered the cruise ship OCEAN MONARCH (ex PORT SYDNEY, AKROTIRI EXPRESS, DAPHNE, SWITZERLAND, OCEAN ODYSSEY) from Majestic International Cruises to help survivors of Hurricane Katrina. A second ship has been offered, but both will be subject to US Coast Guard approval. The 1955-built OCEAN MONARCH can accommodate over 500 passengers. The minimal charter rate will reportedly cover only the operating costs of the vessel. The ship finishes its current cruise on September 25, after which it will head for New Orleans. This same vessel was offered by Greece and stationed in Sri Lanka for relief efforts for Tsunami survivors in February this year.

Denied by FEMA Air America The Rachel Maddow Show

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