Jamaica
Negril, Hanover – Minister of Education and Youth Fayval Williams has blamed red tape, and not a lack of funds, for the slow pace of repairs to school infrastructure.
“We are not short on the funds to do the work,” she said, eliciting sounds of surprise from teachers she was addressing during the Jamaica Teachers’ Association’s 59th annual conference on Wednesday.
“It takes too long for the building officer to visit,” Williams explained as educators responded with a round of applause.
“It is the truth. What we need is a more accelerated process. It takes too long for the building officer to come out and look and for design work to be done. And the tender work [has] to go out and come back and then it has to go to the next level and next level. That is what is holding up the process. It is not the money,” she reiterated.
Williams commiserated with school administrators who are faced with the challenge of faulty infrastructure and argued that principals should not be saddled with the responsibility of reporting on the state of physical structures. That information, she said, should be in the ministry’s database, easily accessible to officers so they can go out and help schools.
“The Orlando Patterson report is calling on us to significantly invest in the infrastructure of our schools and to ensure that technology is at our schools. That is to tell you the importance of having proper, fully functioning infrastructure in our schools,” said the minister, who noted that this is an important pillar of education transformation.
“We do not want classrooms in our schools in which roofs are leaking. They are infested with termites. The desks are breaking down. That is not what we want in the education sector and I am here to tell you that, that is not what we want to see,” she added before providing a breakdown of work to be done.
Under the 2023/2024 critical repairs and infrastructure maintenance programme, $440 million is allocated to fund critical repairs and maintenance activities in 125 schools across the seven regions.
In addition, $165 million has been budgeted to close out 23 contracts that were brought forward from last year. Also, $65 million is to be spent on maintenance and renovation projects in seven schools, while a total of $210 million has been set aside to carry out critical repairs in 95 schools for termite treatment, electrical repairs, and repairs to bathrooms and roofs.
Williams also said $244 million was provided for electrical upgrading projects to carry out precontract or contract activities in 47 schools, including Tarrant High, Priory Primary and Infant, and Holmwood Technical. Bids are also being invited for Little London and Savanna-la-Mar primary schools as well as McGrath, Alston, and Seaforth high schools to name a few.
In relation to the topical issue of safety and security in schools, the minister said $73 million was allocated to carry out precontract and contract activities related to the fencing of 56 schools.
She again pointed to the many steps involved.
“Here, again, you may think that it is easy to just come put in a fence at the school, but no, you have to go get a surveyor to make sure that the boundaries are good and proper and then we have to do the tendering process and so on,” stated Williams.
In relation to furniture for schools, she told educators that high schools should have by now received funding for the procurement of furniture based on needs. She said $97 million was disbursed. At the primary level, 1,400 pieces of student desks and chairs were dispatched to regions one, two, and four based on requests made and needs. Meanwhile, 74 pieces of desks and chairs for teachers were dispatched to Region Five and 3,800 pieces of furniture are scheduled for dispatch to other regions during August.
In terms of the repairing of furniture, under the ministry’s active repair programme 11 schools have been engaged to undertake this initiative. There is also an active programme for the creation of new desks and chairs for several schools. Williams said 16,000 pieces of furniture are being manufactured and are set for distribution by August 28.
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Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad Company, Kallco Guyana Inc. is expected to produce a proposal to the Ministry of Public Work on how it plans to finish the second leg of the Conversation Tree to Dennis Street road project in Georgetown.
Officials from the company yesterday met with the Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill and other officials to discuss the way forward for the project, a week after a letter of poor performance was issued to the company.
Following yesterday’s meeting, Edghill said that a proposal is to be handed in by Wednesday. “The meeting is to be continued. Kallco is to bring in a proposal. The meeting is to be continued on Wednesday”, he told Stabroek News. Edghill explained that after the proposal is submitted a decision will be made. “Which includes how they plan to work in keeping with time knowing that they are so far behind. When they bring that we will examine that on Wednesday and we will make the necessary steps after”, he said.
Sixty-five percent of the contract time has elapsed and only about 25 percent of the work has been completed. Coupled with that, residents have been complaining about stagnant water, breeding of mosquitos and lack of access to their properties. When Stabroek News visited the worksite some walls for the drains’ structure were already up while workers were seen constructing the foundation for the drains.
The project begins at the Conversation Tree corridor and connects to Dennis Street. It will be linked to Sheriff Street from the Dennis Street corridor. The project was split into two lots. Lot 8 A of the project is being executed by S. Jagmohan Construction and General Supplies Inc., for $$1,066, 358,738, while Lot 8 B was awarded to Trinidad company, Kallco Guyana Inc., for $830,293,458. The project was awarded by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) office last year.
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Bahamas
BAHAMAS Contractors Association President Leonard Sands slammed the government’s continued failure to publish contract awards under the Public Procurement Act.
A revised version of the law requires the government to disclose the name and address of winning bidders, the procuring entity, the procurement selection method and the award amount within 60 days of the contract award.
Mr Sands said the Davis administration is choosing not to comply with the requirement.
“The government and the minister of public works by choice are deciding to break the law,” he said. “The law says what should happen and they do not do what the act and the law says.”
Mr Sands said the law is flawed because it imposes no penalty for non-disclosure.
“That’s why the Public Procurement Act didn’t go far enough,” he said. “They already foresaw that they could abuse it, because if you don’t have a penalty, what’s the purpose of me adhering to a law? If someone tells you you could only drive 50mph, but if you drive 60mph nothing happens, you gon’ drive 60mph.”
“Many times the government itself is the one that abuses situations in the country. They should ensure the public is aware who is awarded contracts so they could be seen to be fair.”
Davis administration officials did not answer questions about the matter before press time yesterday.
Financial Secretary Simon Wilson said in April that the government would publish contract awards when the reporting capacity of its procurement system is improved. The government launched the Go Bonfire Platform procurement portal last year. Mr Wilson said officials were back filing information on the new system. The status of those efforts is unclear.
Mr Sands, however, said notifying the public of contract awards should not be complicated.
“Somebody,” he said, “had to sign a document. You know exactly who that person was who signed it, okay? All of the things they tell you are garbage responses to their intention to willfully hide information from the public.”
Concern about the lack of transparency over procurement processes has persisted for years, a problem the law was designed to cure.
“The law has no effect,” Mr Sands claimed. “The Public Procurement Act and its improvements have no effect. The same things that were going on prior to the act being in place continues.”
He said contractors do not expect much from the government.
“Contractors know that, at the end of the day, the persons who the government and or the minister and or whoever wants to have that contract, will have that contract. There’s nothing to do with whether they follow all the protocols of the Public Procurement Act. That’s the sentiment across the board.”
In its 2022 Investment Climate Statement report on The Bahamas, the US Bureau of Economic and Affairs highlighted procurement issues.
“The government passed a Public Procurement Act and launched an e-procurement and suppliers registry system in 2021. While the registry system is in place, the Public Procurement Act has yet to be fully implemented. Companies complain that the tender process for public contracts is inconsistent and allege it is difficult to obtain information on the status of bids,” the US agency said.
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Belize
The Belize City Council is in the process of procuring two electric buses as it prepares to launch its E-Transit Pilot Project in December. The council, through the project’s implementing agency, the UNDP, recently concluded a procurement exercise where competitive bids were submitted and reviewed. The Chinese company, Build Your Dreams (BYD), was then selected to supply the first two electric buses for the one-year EU-funded pilot project. The council’s e-transit coordinator, Niel Hall, explained that once the buses are in the country, testing will be done to ensure the launch of the project is smooth and beneficial.
Neil Hall, eTransit Coordinator: “When they arrive it’s going to be both a relief and a jolt because that’s when the work starts happening all over again. Upon arrival we have several training programs, one that’s technical, the other one that’s for drivers, which by the way we will be looking for drivers so if you know anybody who wants to be a driver of one of these electric buses please tell them to send their information to us. We’d love to hear from them, males and females, but also we’re excited because we are ushering in something new for Belize City. As you know our buses that we use are a little bit on the antiquated side. And these are going to be brand new 2023 buses with the features and amenities of 2023 buses. These are low floor buses, which we’ll be able to accommodate for older and handicapped passengers to have them to start using the public transportation system and give them greater independence. They’re also going to be, like you said, smarter buses where we’ll be giving you amenities like well, AC is not an amenity that’s smarter, but air conditioning inside the buses. You’ll have ports so that you can charge your phone while you’re in the buses. We’ll also have, we’re working with the telecommunication carriers so that how we can get internet on the buses and we’re just looking forward to bringing municipal transportation, public transportation to that next level. We’re looking forward to when we bring this out and I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but buses in Belize City have actually started to look newer now. So we’re hoping that the introduction of these buses has inspired the other municipal bus operators to start bringing in newer buses for themselves as well.”
Neil Hall, eTransit Coordinator: “These buses cost over $300,000 US each. That’s a heck of a bet to make to find out if it works. So we’re very fortunate to have the EU to take that investment and to put it in the hands of Belize so that we can test and see if it works. I mean, yes, there are similar buses working in Barbados, which is also a small island state or even better, so it’s an actual small island surrounded by salt water has more or less the same climate as we do here in Belize. And we know that these buses are working all over the world. So just to ensure that it would work in Belize is something that our bus owners, bus operators don’t have to do themselves. After this project is done, that’s when they can step in and say, okay, let’s see how we can incorporate our knowledge, our help, our assistance, and how we can get our businesses to work together. In terms of you mentioned the excitement of having them here. We are truly, truly excited to be moving Belize City towards becoming a green city, to reducing the noise pollution because these buses are practically silent. We’re looking forward to when these buses move forward you don’t have that plume of smoke coming out of the end, causing both greenhouse gasses and carbon emissions that are unhealthy. Because I’m sure, as someone who loves Belize City, you’ve been beside a bus when it took off beside you and you had to, ahem, ahem, where we’re eliminating all of that. Plus, we’re also looking at the fact that these buses should be something that’s economically feasible once they’ve landed, once they start working because in a study done a few years ago, it was pointed out that on one gallon of gas a bus goes something like four miles per gallon. Using a bus like this, even if it goes one mile per kilowatt hour, a kilowatt hour is less than 50 cents so for less than $2, you’re going that same 4 miles that cost you $11 in a regular, we call it ICE, internal combustion engine bus.”
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Bahamas
Free National Movement leader Michael Pintard said the Davis administration should enact a suite of anti-corruption legislation, including a Public Anti-Corruption Act, a Public Officials Code of Conduct Act and an Integrity Commissions Act.
“The Integrity Commission would be an independent body fully empowered to investigate, report on, and –– where deemed appropriate –– recommend individuals for criminal sanction on matters related to allegations of public corruption,” he said.
An Integrity Commission Bill was among the first the Minnis administration tabled in the House of Assembly in 2017. The bill would give the commission unprecedented and wide-ranging powers, allowing it to exercise powers similar to the Supreme Court during investigations and search and seizure powers typically reserved for the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF).
However, after running an anti-corruption election campaign, the Minnis administration failed to debate and pass the legislation.
In his press statement, Mr Pintard urged the Davis administration to update provisions related to the Office of the Auditor General to expand and entrench the powers of that office.
The budgetary and human resources of the auditor general’s department should fall under the remit of the Parliamentary Services Commission as the office is not accountable to the executive branch of government,” he said. “The remit of the auditor general’s office must be expanded to expressly include Management audits and management process reviews.”
Mr Pintard said the government should give a “firm and imminent time” for the debate and passage of the ombudsman bill.
“There must be an ombudsman office fully staffed and established no later than March 2024,” he said.
He also called on the government to set an appointment date for the full enactment of the Freedom of Information Act, saying the country must have full implementation by January 2024.
“Failures in accountability and transparency,” he said, “are strangling economic growth and national development.”
“The PLP came to office with a documented electoral mandate to improve accountability and transparency,” he added. “But to them, that simply has meant more public relations and staged press events. Yet, this is not what it means to be fully accountable and transparent. We believe it is well beyond time for the government to give full life to the principles of open government.”
Mr Pintard also urged the government to spur a “full and independent investigation” to immigration matters that have attracted headlines recently.
In addition, he urged the administration to establish select parliamentary committees on immigration, crime, education, the collapse of FTX and economic empowerment.
“Follow the Procurement Act and publish the details of all applicable public sector contracts,” he said. “The former Public Procurement Act (PPA) of 2021 and the current PPA of 2023 both require publication of the summary details of all government contracts awarded. It also requires an annual report on all contracts –– the first of which was due October 2022. It is a sign of utter contempt of the Bahamian people to openly break the law on an ongoing basis.”
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