The Auditor General has sought to clarify the role of her department following comments by Correia Construction over the system of accounting controls for the Dockyard project.

In interview with The Royal Gazette, Jane Correia, Correia's contracts administrator, said: "Everything we did, we had the Auditor General and Entech watching."

She explained each proposed change in the design and construction of the new cruise ship pier would be submitted to project managers Entech Ltd. with a written explanation and cost estimate.

She said this would then be sent to the Auditor General's Office for approval before coming back as a variation order.

A spokeswoman for Mrs. Correia said: "There were staff from the Auditor General's offices involved in the process through Entech, as well as accounting reps from the Ministry."

Auditor General Heather Jacobs Matthews told The Royal Gazette: "We don't get involved in the approval process. The Auditor General does not approve or pre-approve such expenditures, nor has she the authority or responsibility to do so.

"It is the officers of those departments and ministries incurring the costs that have that responsibility. In the case of the mega-cruise ship dock project, the responsibility rests with the Ministry of Tourism and Transport."

She added: "In this particular case, our staff visited the offices of Entech during the preliminary information gathering phase of the audit. The audit is ongoing and a final report will be issued in due course."

Asked whether she was investigating the costs of the Dockyard project, Mrs. Jacobs Matthews said: "I don't want to comment on that right now."

She said: "The Auditor General's role is to conduct audits, reviews and investigations of the activities of Government ministries and departments, and to report on such matters.

"It is not uncommon for the Auditor General's Office to conduct a performance audit of a project of this size and dollar value."

Such audits can take place at any time of the year and can focus on specific parts of a project or issues, as is standard procedure.

Mrs. Jacobs Matthews said: "We are limited by our resources but we do try to get full coverage of all the work going on. We are mandated to review all the activities of Government."

The comments follow an investigation by The Royal Gazette into why costs for the new cruise ship pier rose from $35 million to $60 million an increase of 70 percent.

Correia Construction was the contractor for the new dock and Entech was the project manager.