Dominica has again raised the prospect of taking legal action against the US-owned Ross University for an alleged breach of the land lease arrangement the off-shore medical institution had prior to its decision to relocate to Barbados last year.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, speaking on the state-owned DBS radio on Tuesday night, said Ross University took a unilateral decision to leave the island last year and it has had some serious implications for persons who had made significant investments in the area.
He said as a result, the government is reviewing the matter.
“My view to the government is that we should pursue Ross where compensation is concerned. We had a lease agreement with Ross and Ross broke the lease unilaterally and there are several of our citizens who would have invested based on that lease with Ross, specific to Ross.
“I believe we may very well pursue Ross where compensation is concerned,” Skerrit said, adding “Ross took a decision by itself. There’s nothing that Ross asked the government to do that the government did not do.
“As a matter of fact the firm decision of the government was to focus on the campus at Ross. So we got lights back at Ross before anywhere else. We got water back at Ross before anywhere else. We got internet connected at Ross before anywhere else.
“We engaged Ross by indicating to Ross what else do we need to do (and) Ross raised one issue and we addressed it,” Skerrit said, noting that “in this business world an economic decision taken by Ross.
Last November, Skerrit said that his administration is prepared to take legal action against the US-owned off-shore medical institution after it left Dominica under controversial circumstances after having been on the island for the past 40 years.
The university later defended its decision to re-locate to Bridgetown saying it had been taken “after considerable deliberations, including a review of our academic and infrastructural requirement and future plan”.
Skerrit, speaking at a meeting with Dominicans residing overseas, said that Dominica had entered into an agreement for the lease of the land in the north of the island where the university had located its campus.
“The campus belongs to the state. A lease agreement was entered into Ross University and the government of Dominica leasing the 27.2 acres to Ross and in that lease it states very clearly and even our existing laws make it very clear also, that if you are leasing property and anything they build upon it, it will belong to the owner.”
“So we really want Ross to hand over these buildings to us sooner rather than later. The Attorney general (Levi Peter) is in discussions with them and the sooner they can get out, the better for us.
“If they do not want to move when we want them to move we will take them to court as simple as that,” Skerrit told the meeting.
He told the visiting Dominicans that the government is in discussions with at least four entities for a replacement to Ross University.
Skerrit told radio listeners on Tuesday night that the delay by Ross to hand over the facility had resulted in some setbacks with visits by other interested parties. Ross is reported to have handed over the facility to government in late December.
“We only got full possession and occupation of the campus on the 31st of December… and not having full control of the campus created a challenge to us in bringing people to visit the campus because Ross was not cooperating.
“So now that we have full possession of Ross University, the campus, owned by the people of Dominica, it puts us in a stronger position to continue engaging those partners….to come to the campus inspect for themselves whether that campus is suitable for them to operate as a school,” he added.
“We are very confident that we shall find a replacement to Ross and… even a better partner,” Skerrit said.
