Articles | Project Calls

Contracts signed for some $53M in infrastructural development in Region Two

July 20, 2023 by Mayra Bonilla Lopez

Guyana

Residents of several Region Two communities can expect to see significant infrastructural following the signing of three contracts on Friday, totalling approximately $53.4 million.

According to a DPI press release, a contract valued $31.9 million was signed for the construction of a revetment at Golden Fleece. This contract was awarded to RIVA Investment by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board and is expected to be completed within four months.

Tomesh Street, Windsor Castle will be upgraded to the tune of $10.7 million, under a contract signed with A Bacchus Contracting and Trucking Service, the release said. This project will see a new concrete structure coupled with concrete drains on both sides, as well as the construction of walkways to allow for easy access for residents. It is expected to be completed within three months.

Another contract valued at $10.8 million was signed for the upgrade to concrete of Second Cross Street, Old Housing Scheme, Charity, providing residents with improved access to their homes.

This project was awarded to Golden Key Construction and Supply and is expected to be completed within three months, the DPI said.

It added that a nursery school is being constructed at Mashabo, Essequibo Coast at a cost of $23.7 million. This contract was awarded to Rose’s Enterprise and is expected to be completed within four months.

The school’s layout features four classrooms, a head teacher’s office, a kitchen, a sick bay, a janitorial closet, and a store room.

It will also cater for terrazzo floors with porcelain tiles for the washrooms along with water-resistant sheetrock ceilings. Currently, 22 pupils enrolled in the nursery school are being accommodated at the primary school. Regional Executive Officer Susanah Saywack, Regional Engineer Kawan Suchit, Civil Engineer Harindra Nandalall, Engineer from Anna Regina Town Council Brian Alves, and Superintendent of Road, Saywack Persaud were all present at the contract signing.

More contracts are expected to be signed for additional infrastructure works in the region in the coming weeks.

Image: Pixabay,(Pexels)

Gates Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and The Rockefeller Foundation Announce New Recipients of Multilateral Development Banks Challenge Fund

July 20, 2023 by Mayra Bonilla Lopez

Caribbean

Ahead of the New Financial Pact Summit, chaired by Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, and Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and The Rockefeller Foundation announced USD 2,781,583 in funding from the $5.25 million Multilateral Development Banks Challenge Fund (“the Fund”): Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, Caribbean Development Bank, FSD Africa, IDB Invest, Risk Control Limited, and University of Leeds. The six grantees, which were selected to help increase efficiency and innovation in the world’s development finance system, advance the Fund’s overarching goal of accelerating investment for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Paris Climate Agreement.

The Fund, which is administered by New Venture Fund, was announced in October 2022 to help multilateral development banks’ (MDBs) unlock tens of billions of dollars in new development finance with little to no cost to shareholders and while safeguarding their financial integrity. Aligning assistance around the recommendations in the G20 Independent Review of MDBs’ Capital Adequacy Framework (CAF) report, its three areas of focus are 1) developing a better understanding of MDBs’ specific features to support better informed discussions about MDB’s risk management and shareholders’ risk appetite; 2) promoting financial innovation and the development of new instruments, with an emphasis on risk transfers and securitization as a means to catalyze private investment; and 3) improving transparency and access to information.

The latest round of projects will help accelerate the design and implementation of new ideas for MDB innovation and finance research to promote ways in which MDB’s unique resources can be maximized. With grants ranging from $140,000 to $750,000:

Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, a public research university located in Freiburg in Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, will develop a new methodology for assessing concentration risk tailored to MDBs’ portfolio. This aims to provide an alternative to the leading methodology currently in use (e.g. in S&P supranational ratings), which was designed for commercial entities, usually holding much larger portfolios, and can be considered overly conservative when applied to MDBs portfolios that are structurally concentrated but also have other specific features.
Caribbean Development Bank (CBD), a regional financial institution, will explore new balance sheet solutions that would enable it to better cushion disaster-related shocks and to provide financing tailored to its members’ needs and challenges. The work on Climate Resilient Debt Instruments has to date predominantly focused on private sector creditors. This project will build the evidence base for consideration of the introduction of climate-contingent loans into MDBs’ activities, accounting for MDB specific features and considering what additional support may be required to enable the implementation of such mechanisms at scale. A holistic balance sheet approach will consider innovation on both sides of the balance sheet, developing a framework replicable by other development banks. Lazard Frères has been retained as financial advisor to CDB to implement this project.
FSD Africa, which is incorporated as a non-profit company limited by guarantee in Kenya and funded by the UK Government’s UK aid, will explore the potential for local currency solutions for MDB portfolio transfers, combining the objective of freeing up MDB capital with that of deepening domestic capital markets in smaller emerging markets.
IDB Invest, which is the private sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, will structure a securitization of a pool of its development related assets as a means of testing appetite and optimizing capital. The preparatory work will be designed with an eye towards building a new asset class and expanding and scaling the MDB investor base and by exploring options for greater standardization and collaboration between MDBs.
Risk Control Limited, a UK-based firm specializing in developing and implementing risk management assessments for international institutions, will launch two projects. The first project will produce comprehensive analysis to support MDB’s efforts to develop markets in their own risk transfer mechanisms, creating a set technical and analytical tools for Balance Sheet Optimization. The second project will aim to benchmark capital adequacy across MDBs to increase transparency for their shareholders, boards, and management, while providing metrics of credit standing that are alternatives to agency ratings.
University of Leeds, a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, will be investigating MDBs local currency practices, evaluating the scale of the risks and their determinants, and assessing current risk management frameworks, while testing whether the premise that these risks are currently overestimated by limiting the lending capacity of MDBs.

The six new grantees join the first recipients of funding, ODI and Publish What You Fund, which are working to rapidly develop research to improve understanding of MDBs’ callable capital and a system to track and boost MDB mobilization.

“The MDB Challenge Fund is designed to jump start MDB reforms. These grants should help financial institutions test methods to meaningfully increase their funding and impact, to enable MDBS’s to better confront the crises facing the world – especially climate change, energy, the food crises and debt,” said Mike Muldoon, Chief of Staff at The Rockefeller Foundation and former member of the independent panel commission by the G20 to conduct the Review of MDBs’ Capital Adequacy Frameworks.

“This grant is part of the Bank’s thrust to arrive at innovative solutions for development. Access and affordable financing is the key to resilient prosperity in our region,” said Dr. Hyginus “Gene” Leon, President of the Caribbean Development Bank.

“As political momentum around MDBs reforms continues to grow, the pool of projects supported by the MDB Challenge Fund will contribute to identifying innovative and concrete solutions to design development finance instruments that match the pressing liquidity needs of developing countries and help them implement a just and equitable energy transition,” said Laura Carvalho, Global Director of Equity at OSF.

“Meeting the development finance needs of today and tomorrow requires effective, collaborative, and innovative multilateral development banks, truly operating as part of a responsive system rather than as standalone, static actors. The MDB Challenge Fund is investing in this vision by seeding projects that fill key knowledge gaps and demonstrate deepened MDB capacity, collaboration, and impact,” said Kalpana Kochhar, Director of Development Policy and Finance at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“FSD Africa is pleased to be selected among the beneficiaries of the MDB Challenge Fund. We have been at the forefront of innovation and are keen on supporting new ways of doing business to ensure finance works for Africa’s future. Leveraging on the grant FSD Africa intends to undertake detailed assessment and engagement with MDBs and other key stakeholders to curate an innovative approach to unlock MDB capital in a way that enhances efficiency, maximises impact and supports sustainable economic development in Africa,” said Mark Napier, CEO, FSD Africa.

“MDB loan portfolios typically consist of a small number of borrowers and hence are exposed to a significant amount of single name concentration risk. The granularity adjustment method currently applied by some rating agencies can, however, substantially overestimate this risk when applied to such small portfolios. In this project, we will develop a new approach that accurately measures name concentration risk in small and highly concentrated portfolios. A more precise measurement of concentration risk may lead to a significant reduction of capital requirements and hence increased lending capacity for MDBs,” said Professor Luetkebohmert-Holtz of the University of Freiburg.

Residents warned against unapproved repair works

July 20, 2023 by Mayra Bonilla Lopez

Trinidad and Tobago

THE Ministry of Works and Transport yesterday asked Woodland residents to refrain from undertaking unsanctioned repair works in the area.

On Sunday, residents affected by recent flooding in Woodland took it upon themselves to fix a breach in the bank of the South Oropouche River.

The ministry said it empathises with the flood victims and understands the frustration and anxiety of residents, but members of the community are strongly advised to refrain from engaging in any unsanctioned repair works as an unapproved plan is likely to cause accelerated deterioration and can increase flooding in the area.

Image: Jonathan Ford (Unsplash)

CDB President pushes for more regional business partnerships

July 20, 2023 by Mayra Bonilla Lopez

Caribbean

The Caribbean Development Bank continues to urge regional governments to explore opportunities for collaboration.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the 53rd Annual Meeting of the CBD, the entity’s President, Dr. Gene Leon, said the region needs to look into a number of partnerships, including those linked to knowledge creation and skills development.

Dr Leon said this can help create jobs and business opportunities, especially for youth, but he added that the supporting framework has to be in place for these partnerships to work.

Image: pexels-shreeneet-rathi

Official links procurement to shortage of road-repair contractors

July 20, 2023 by Mayra Bonilla Lopez

Trinidad and Tobago

THE requirement for contractors to register with the Office of Procurement Regulator (OPR) was linked to a shortage of contractors ready to do road repairs, at a sitting of Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) at Cabildo Chambers, Port of Spain on Wednesday.

The committee, chaired by Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George, interviewed the Secondary Road Rehabilitation and Improvement Company Limited (SRRIC) and its line ministry, the Ministry of Works and Transport (MOWT.) SRRIC CEO Antonio Ross said the company has identified about 300 projects to be done but has only 80 contractors, who have registered with the OPR as required by the recently-proclaimed the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act 2015.

The act in section 26(1) says, “The Office shall establish a database, to be known as ‘the Procurement Depository,’ to which suppliers or contractors can submit information with respect to, among other things, their qualifications and experience.”

Ross, in his opening statement, said the company has a bank balance of $87 million, with an extra $100 million held at the Ministry of Finance.

“We have spent to date approximately $10.6 million on nine projects completed to date.

“For the rest of 2023 we will have a total of approximately $180 million to spent on approximately 300 road repair and rehabilitation projects, of which 190 are ready to go out for tender to bring relief to the citizens of TT directly and in their immediate neighbourhoods.”

Making a plug for the OPR, he said the Procurement Act, as proclaimed on April 26, meant that contractors keen to bid for SRRIC jobs had to register with the OPR.

“There are currently 80 contractors registered in the procurement depository to provide road repair and rehabilitation of which just a handful are either small or medium-sized contractors.

“I would therefore take this opportunity to encourage all contractors to log onto www.opr.org and complete the process to become an approved provider of road repair and rehabilitation services to entities such as the Secondary Road Rehabilitation and Improvement Company.”

Ross said TT has many small road repair projects to be done, but that 80 contractors was “not a lot.”

He said asphalt was a necessity for many projects but he did not view access to this as a challenge, saying TT had 22 asphalt providers, each selling to private contractors at market prices.

Ross said the company had recently been transferred from the Ministry of Local Government to the Ministry of Works and Transport (MoWT.)

He later envisioned the SSRIC deploying 100 contractors to do minor repairs to potholes near their homes, monitored by the SRRIC’s quality control technicians.

Committee member Hassel Bacchus asked if the number of available contractors had been sufficient before the proclamation of the act.

Ross replied yes. He said the proclamation was “a good thing”, but then said “something has to be done” to get more contractors to register at the OPR.

MoWT permanent secretary Sonia Francis-Yearwood thought MoWT’s oversight of both the SRRIC and the Programme For Upgrading Roads Efficiency (PURE) Unit has reduced the chances of any overlap in their roles.

She said out of all roads in TT, 43 per cent were secondary roads, main roads and highways 22 per cent, 18 per cent agricultural access roads and 16 per cent under the Tobago House of Assembly (THA).

Committee member Randal Mitchell said TT had 9,000 km of roads, with 2,135 kn under MoWT and 7,000 km under regional corporations, the Ministry of Agriculture and other entities. He urged a review of the mandates of SSRIC and PURE.

Ross said WASA was legally obliged to repair the under at the site of any underground repairs they had undertaken at submerged pipelines.

Francis-Yearwood said MoWT’s Utilities Unit regularly tells WASA which repairs the ministry aimed to undertake, as she noted that the ministry could for liable for damaging WASA’s pipes, while WASA could be liable if it damaged roads controlled by the ministry.

Image: David McBee (Pexels)