Governor Sir Richard Gozney yesterday praised Premier Paula Cox for kicking off a new era of good governance and wiping out 'special concessions' granted to her predecessor Ewart Brown's Ministry.The Tourism and Transport Ministry didn't follow the same financial controls as other Ministries when it undertook major projects such as the new emissions testing centres, which overspent by $10 million.But that practice has since been ended by Ms Cox as one of a string of promised measures to improve transparency and accountability and stamp out any unethical behaviour from public officials.Yesterday, Sir Richard threw his support behind Ms Cox's move, adding that Auditor General Heather Jacobs Matthews will soon issue a report on the Heritage Wharf project, another Tourism and Transport initiative, which cost $21 million more than expected.And the Governor said he would watch with interest as former faith-based tourism director Andre Curtis and former Works and Engineering architect Kyril Burrows face trials in September and January respectively.Ms Cox, who has frequently pledged to improve standards of governance since taking over from Dr Brown last November, has set up a procurement office to ensure contracts are handed out fairly.Measures in her proposed Good Governance legislation include giving the Director of Internal Audit extra powers to seize documents and protecting whistle-blowers.Sir Richard said yesterday: "It's actually quite a big and important step. You give the internal auditor stronger powers, you also remind senior public servants of their personal responsibilities: that's a serious package."I have been saying to one or two people that I hope they noticed. I hope people go back and reflect a little bit on that."Asked about past accusations of a lack of accountability in Government, Sir Richard replied: "She has gripped it and very quickly removed the special concession that was there, I think for historical reasons, for the Tourism and Transport Ministry, to do a lot of capital projects with a great deal more autonomy than say Health or Education."She cancelled that and said that everyone has to go through this process."If there was a weakness there, it's not for me to opine or pass judgment, but clearly a lot of people felt that. But she acted very quickly to correct that perceived weakness. Now she's taking it a step further."Meanwhile the Auditor General is taking a hard look at those projects that might concern her. The special report of TCD is to be considered by the Public Accounts Committee. It's an important advance there. And she will quite soon issue a report on the Heritage Wharf: another Tourism and Transport project that went badly overspent."It's no secret: there are some serious questions about the management about that big public capital project."She's serious about looking at that and drawing conclusions about where things went wrong."To have Government saying there's a new route, we are serious about it, if you have got doubts about how we do it ... she's genuinely changing direction of that area of Government expenditure on capital projects, particularly in the Tourism and Transport sector, because they had an apparent concession not to go through Public Works and the other checks that capital projects normally have to go through here."Ms Matthews revealed in a report last October that the bill for the Island's three vehicle safety and emissions testing centres shot up after Government "relinquished control" to two private companies connected to construction boss Dennis Correia.She pointed to ministerial interference from the outset, and criticised the fact the project was run by the Ministry of Tourism and Transport instead of Works and Engineering, which took responsibility for all other Government projects at that time.Under the watch of Dr Brown's Ministry, the cost soared from an original budget of $5.3 million to a final cost of $15.2 million.The Heritage Wharf project, also contracted to one of Mr Correia's firms, was budgeted to cost $39 million but ended up costing $60 million.The Opposition has complained there was no proper oversight by Works and Engineering or the Ministry of Finance for that initiative.Noting that the new procurement office will come under the Premier's personal watch, Sir Richard said: "I think she's saying that, if she's Finance Minister, if there have been questions raised about capital projects, how they have been managed in the recent past, she as Finance Minister and Premier is going to make it very clear where the accountability will rest in the future with an office directly under her."It's what you see on the outside of the can: as the label suggests. I think everybody will hope that that makes a difference."Mr Burrows, along with his wife Delcina Bean-Burrows, and fellow Works staff Greatfield Carmichael and Calvin Waldron, is accused of conspiracy to defraud Government between January 1, 2005 and June 30, 2008.Mr Curtis, who was Dr Brown's political campaign manager, is charged with stealing public funds and falsifying expenditure from the faith-based tourism budget in Dr Brown's Ministry.All have pleaded not guilty to the charges.Sir Richard said of their trials: "Those two together are quite important."I should be watching closely the trials of both a Government consultant who is accused of theft and Government employees who are accused of theft."It would be wrong to say any more ahead of the cases. We need to see them take place in court. But they are both quite significant."