THE government maintained yesterday that former New Providence Landfill manager Renew Bahamas “abruptly” terminated its contract to remediate the dumpsite, while insisting ongoing challenges at the site do not place it in breach of Baha Mar’s heads of agreement.
Questions have been raised about the implications of the government’s failure to honour a commitment made by the previous administration to resolve the landfill’s issues by December 31, 2017.
This commitment was part of the April 25, 2017 heads of agreement with Baha Mar’s new owner, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE).
It was reported that any failure by the government to resolve the landfill’s problems by that date would be treated as a “force majeure” event, meaning CTFE and its Baha Mar-owning affiliate could be released from performing their heads of agreement obligations for as long as it takes to remediate the landfill’s problems.
However, in a statement to The Tribune, Press Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister Anthony Newbold said there is no breach and there is no cause for alarm.
It came the day after Renew in a statement refuted accusations by Environment Minister Romauld Ferreira, who had said the company’s management of the dumpsite was a “disaster”.
He said the Department of Environmental Health Services had done a better job with the landfill when compared with Renew.
Contract
“The previous manager of the site Renew Bahamas abruptly terminated their contract unilaterally,” Mr Newbold’s statement noted.
“The government was compelled to utilise the Department of Environmental Health to resume management on a temporary basis.
“The Minister of the Environment Romauld Ferreira has already publicly outlined the steps being taken by the government to secure a lasting comprehensive resolution to the problem by having requested expressions of interest pursuant to technical advice and having now created a short list of qualified interested parties who will be invited to tender.
Resolution
“In the meanwhile, the government is working diligently to remediate the fire issue at the dumpsite, pending the comprehensive resolution towards which the government is already working.
“There is thus no breach of the very words extracted from the HOA; and no cause for any alarm on the part of the press or public.”
The heads of agreement contained a commitment from the government to make several infrastructure improvements to maximise Baha Mar’s success, including remediation and improved operation of the landfill.
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For many of us, 2018 started with a bang! We have been busy: so much to do, so little time. However, with all of this busyness, it is easy to lose of track of important tasks, activities and goals we planned to accomplish this year.
Here we highlight four tools/applications (apps) that that can help you increase productivity, and so better maximize your time and effort.
In need a better way to keep track of all of your to-dos? Consider Google Keep. You can create notes and lists, set time and place reminders, and check off your completed tasks. Google Keep also allows you to share ideas and collaborate with others, along with dictate your notes, and organise your entries. Tasks can also be grouped by projects, clients or activities, and remain synced across your various devices, thus keeping continually dated on the progress you have made, and what is still outstanding.
Supported Platforms: iOS; Android; Chrome
Price: Free
Trello is a web-based project management that facilitates collaboration among teams. Trello uses cards to organise tasks, which in turn can be ordered into lists and organised on a dashboard. It also allows you to customize workflows for different projects, and add checklists of “To-Dos” on cards. Additionally, you can invited people to collaborate and assign tasks, leave comments on items, and upload photos, videos and files.
Supported platforms: Web-based, iOS, Android
Price: Free USD 9.99 per user per month (Business Class); up to USD 20.83 per user per month (Enterprise Class)
Evernote is a perennial favourite, which many busy, yet organised, people swear by. It helps its users to stay organised, save ideas and improve productivity, by allowing users to, among other things, make notes (which are completely searchable), capture photos, create to-do lists, record voice reminders, and receipts, bills and invoices. Users can also sync their notes across a broad range of devices; save and share files; scan business cards; organise notes by notebooks and tags; digitize documents and Post-it Notes; and share notes with others via popular social networks.
Supported platforms: Android; BlackBerry; iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch); Windows Phone; Web OS; Mac OS X; Windows Desktop; Windows 8
Price: Free; USD 34.99 per year (premium version); USD 69.99 per year (premium version); USD 12.00 per month per user (business version)
Another useful project management app to consider is Asana. Asana allows you to capture tasks, to-dos, reminders, and ideas. You can also get communicate with and get updates from co-workers, along with organise and track the various tasks and work projects you need to stay on top of. Further, it is not just notes and ideas that are created in Asana that can be managed. Over 100 programmes and apps, such as Gmail, Google Drive, Slack and Dropbox to name a few, can be integrated into Asana, thus making it a powerful platform through which to keep your life – and business – in order.
Supported platforms: Android; iOS
Price: Free (basic, for up to 15 team members); USD 9.99 per team member per month (premium version)
Images: FOX (Pexels); Google; Trello; Logok; Asana
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On January 31, 2018, under the theme “Facilitating DFC’s Developmental Mandate,” the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) launched CDB’s 8th Consolidated Line of Credit to the DFC.
This new BZD40 Million (mn) credit line, guaranteed by the Government of Belize, enables the DFC to continue financing, on affordable terms, market segments that are not readily catered for by the commercial banks and other financial institutions. These include priority sectors such as small and medium size enterprises, student loans, low income housing and energy efficiency / renewable energy projects.
The Credit Line is complimented by a technical grant of BZD370,000 for institutional strengthening and capacity building, as well as supporting due diligence for climate risk assessment of sub projects.
Between 2009 and 2016 CDB made BZD80 mn available to DFC in long term financing, half of which was approved in 2016.
Peter Blackman, Portfolio Manager, Private Sector Development Unit, CDB stated, “Given the higher incidence of poverty in rural Belize, providing funds to DFC for support to agriculture is a strategic investment in the country’s development and especially in providing opportunities for rural households to earn income.”
Blackman indicated that housing was the most conspicuous aspect of social provision and highlighted some of the additional benefits to be derived from home ownership, including access to finance, particularly for education.
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Image: Pixabay (Pexels)
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STATE agencies TSTT and iGovTT, jointly hosted a breakfast ceremony for about 100 guests at the Hyatt Regency Port of Spain yesterday to celebrate the signing of a memorandum of understanding between them for e-tendering services.
Ironically, even though the MoU is intended to make the procurement process for government contracts more efficient by increasing transparency and accountability, when Newsday tried to ascertain the cost of hosting such a lavish event, the paper was told that the parties “did not want to get into specifics.”
Telecoms service provider TSTT’s e-tender software was developed by the company in 2012, and has since then been used in the company’s procurement processes.
The MoU with iGovTT, the information and communication technology (ICT) arm of the government, will hopefully allow the state to start integrating e-tendering solutions to all its contracts, starting as early as next month with iGovTT transactions.
It provides the governing framework to jointly market and implement TSTT’s e-Tender software to 22 ministries, 119 state companies and 135 statutory bodies.
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Image: Skitterphoto (Pexels)
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The National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) opened several tenders yesterday with significant interest shown for the construction of a new fire station at Onverwagt in the West Berbice area.
In the first session, tenders were opened for the Ministry of Public Security – a Financial Consultancy service to conduct a diagnostic, identifying the needs and constraints of the police performance, and capacity, and the design and implementation of a human resource management plan and performance assessment framework for Guyana Police Force.
| Bidder |
Amount |
| Public Administration International of UK |
US$119,800 (excluding local taxes) |
| Trevor Hamilton and Associates of Jamaica |
US$119,200 (including local taxes) |
The Ministry of Business and the Guyana Tourism Authority are moving to shortlist a number of companies in the US and Germany to market Guyana. The companies shortlisted are:
| Bidder |
Amount |
| Capital KTRN of Germany |
|
| Fast Powered Marketing of Germany (not shortlisted) |
|
| Mass Contour of Germany |
|
| Emerging Destinations of USA |
|
The Ministry of Natural Resources wants a company to supply, deliver and install of a computer server:
| Bidder |
Amount |
| Micro Design Technology |
$4,358,697 |
| Massy Technologies Guyana Limited |
$3,216,843 |
The Guyana Defence Force is looking for suppliers of building materials for its Base at Tacama.
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Image: Kính Tran (Pexels)
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