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.
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Guyana
What good news! It is that “There has been active interest from Brazil to bring Guyana’s Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP) into fruition.” This is the word from Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, who explained that “Guyana has received proposals from Brazil and other countries for the 165-megawatt hydropower project, a flagship initiative under the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).” High on optimism, Jagdeo is anticipating “… that in the near future, Government might go out for another bidding process.” And why not? And the earlier the better.
Editor, not too far back, I recall that President Irfaan Ali, declaring that despite some hiccups, Government was never going to abandon the Amaila Falls Hydro Project. At the time, the President did reveal that the project was currently undergoing a process, and he was most firm, detailing that “… we are not going to abandon this project, if we have to go out again and again, we will.” And why not?
First, I care little for the logistics and minutiae of the Amaila Falls Hydro Project (AFHP), since for me, what is vital is that Guyana simply move ahead and realise this long overdue ambition. It is most necessary from a financial aspect, and of course, in terms of being climate and environmentally wise, it is the way to go. I back up to December 2016, as many of us seem to forget too conveniently. Back then, the independent assessment of the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP) did reveal that the only realistic path for Guyana moving towards an emission-free electricity sector is by developing its hydropower potential and the fastest way forward is to maintain the AFHP.
This report mind you, was compiled by Norconsult, an engineering and design consultancy firm out of Norway, which was contracted by the Government of Norway, detailed an “objective and facts-based” assessment of the Project on the agreement of the two Governments, and made some telling statements
Essentially, the go-ahead from day one was unambiguous, and that was way back in 2016. Part of the statement says that “It is our opinion that BOOT (Build, Own, Operate, Transfer) type public-private partnership model should be maintained for the project implementation. An internationally well-merited investor and operator in the hydropower industry should be invited to take the majority position and the driving seat (main sponsor) in the project company. So, irrespective of the means of accomplishing the AFHP, the bottom line is that Guyana must not stall for too long.
Secondly, when it is all said and done, Guyana will be supplied with electricity “at a cost not exceeding US$0.07737 per KWH, as against what currently obtains, which is also largely fossil fuel-based, at $0.32 per KWH. This must not go on. We also know that power is not stable in many areas, and the current high cost of electricity continues to affect operating performance for businesses and is a major challenge to the productive sector, as profitability is severely compromised. My hope is that the opposition and skeptics will be unbiased and quit playing politics. The well-being of all Guyanese is far too important and our leaders must be candid when it comes to overall betterment of the country. Yes, Guyana has oil, and even this emerging Oil and Gas sector is being lambasted. I remind all that renewable energy is growing rapidly around the world, but fossil fuels still make up a majority of the world’s energy use. So, Guyana has to be very prudent.
In terms of where we stand, Jagdeo stated that “We’ve now gotten at least two proposals from companies in Brazil to do the hydro, and then some companies out of the US. Soon, you may see us going back out to another [tender] process. But the Brazilians are still very interested in this regard too.”
I can go on and list so many advantages and positive spin-offs in terms of a Brazil-Guyana joint AFHP realization. But for now, readers can envisage things like “… deepening trade relations with the Linden to Mabura road project, as agricultural activities and exchanges will also be easily facilitated; the soya bean project, corn project, agriculture logistics, moving fertilizer and limestone into northern Brazil because there is a huge demand for it for their agriculture.” In a nut-shell, “A huge set of business there will happen.”
I end by emphasizing that even if Guyana has to shift from the BOOT contract to an EPC (Engineering, procurement, and construction-EPC) one, and it devolves to the government’s lead in having to secure the finances for the project, then so be it. It is the end result that matters, both locally and globally. Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, a while back, summed it up succinctly, stating the preference and that “… if we can’t get it done under the BOOT, we will have to retender…”
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Guyana
he Ministry of Agriculture is utilizing part of a US$8.4 million loan to purchase flash drives and tablets.
In an Invitation for Bids (IFB) published in Saturday’s edition of Kaieteur News, the Ministry said it is looking to procure tablets with keyboards and flash drives with financing from the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD).
Bids to supply the equipment will remain open until July 4, 2023.
Kaieteur News understands that the loan was approved by the agency in 2016 to finance the ‘Hinterland Environmentally Sustainable Agricultural Development Project’.
The lending institution on its website noted that the total cost of the project is pegged at US11.14 million. US$8.45 million is being funded by IFAD while the government is providing US$2.43 million in additional funds to support the initiative.
According to IFAD, the project supports the resilience of rural families and Indigenous peoples by promoting the links between economic diversification, productive transformation, environmental protection and family nutrition. It identifies products that will enable small farmers’ inclusion in markets, which, in turn, will increase local demand for services and labour and strengthen the entire rural economy.
It also seeks to improve small-scale farmers’ access to public services, knowledge and technologies through training and technical assistance in the areas of planning and natural resources management (water, soil, renewable energy, agro-diversity).
It supports local and regional councils as they plan and prioritize investments in local value chains and strengthens their resilience, enabling communities to identify economic opportunities as well as the risks resulting from climate change.
The project also aims to improve food security and nutrition through the promotion of crops, fish and forest products that can sustainably improve household diets. This involves nutrition education and behaviour change activities, including the elaboration of dietary guidelines.
The project will conclude in 2024.
This publication had reported in May last year that the Ministry of Education utilized a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to purchase some 5000 flash drives, in an effort to recover learning losses during the restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a request for bids (RFB) that was published in Kaieteur News, the Ministry said, “The Cooperative Republic of Guyana has received a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank toward the cost of ‘Support to Safety Nets for Vulnerable Populations Affected by Coronavirus in Guyana (Component 2) and it intends to apply part of this loan to payments under the contract for the procurement of 5000 flash drives for schools.”
The notice did not provide details pertaining to who would be the beneficiaries of the flash drives; neither did it explain how the procurement of such equipment would aid in the educational advancement of students or pupils.
Efforts were made by this newspaper to contact the Ministry for further details regarding the procurement of the flash drives but proved futile. Bids to supply the flash drives were later received by the National Procurement and Tender Administration ranging from $9.9 million to $27.5 million.
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Guyana
Contracts in Guyana have the tendency to sweeten the palate and plunge headlong into the labyrinth of misuse and inflated costs to outright theft of state funds. Now comes the PPP’s decision to issue a new brand of ‘hi-tech’ Identification cards. The electronic citizenship card project stands as another example of this government’s autocracy in bypassing the constitutional channels in spending taxpayers’ dollars for a project that should have been evaluated instead of the fait accompli decision. This is a constant reminder of the unfettered powers of Freedom House as exhibited several times on all issues by the honcho and de facto president who believes he knows it all and who wants things to be done his way, or the highway for those who refused or objected.
Simple logic would dictate that if Guyana were interested in an electronic ID system that would allow entry into the country and a range of other hassle-free interventions, then it would issue invitations for public tender, and these would then be tendered to the National Procurement and Tender Administration (NPTAB) for an evaluation committee to make the final determination. Now this is not a matter of urgency so there is no justification because the project cannot be classified as being one of national security so why did the government do its own procuring thereby trampling on its own procurement brother?
However, the real catastrophe emanates from the data base of all Guyanese names – the National Registration Records – a highly flawed, diseased document which cannot even produce an accurate Voters’ List 57 years after Independence! President Ali’s defense of the contract was, as usual, flaccid, and lacking in substance. He told the virtual signing that the Government’s commitment to promote e-governance is to improve the productivity of businesses and delivery of government services through e-health, e-education, e-security, e-agriculture, electronic permits, and licence processing. So here is the Head of State squashing the purpose of the Procurement Commission which leaves many to believe that the E-Identification cards project is laced with inconsistencies..
So here is another potential casualty brewing, exposing the propensity of the de facto President and honcho for ill-conceived projects like the white elephant Skeldon sugar factory, the ill-advised and mis-guided Amalia Falls, and the silly and unthinkable Surendra Hospital. Such a huge expenditure could be better used to improve the poor conditions at all the hospitals throughout the country, repair the wide and deep potholes on the roadways including the so-called poorly constructed highways, and the collection of garbage in the rat-infested Capital and other cities in the country where a few inches of rain would cause severe flooding. The time has come for the taxpayers and the people in general to question how the PPPC government headed by the honcho and the de facto president is spending their dollars. For example, it has been ten years and counting since construction of the Cheddi Jagan Airport has started and today, it is still not completed. Lousy work by the Chinese contractor who are friends of the de facto president is still being paid by the government to correct their own mistakes.
In Guyana, the PPPC government is wasting billions of dollars to build roads, bridges, and a stadium at Palmyra in Berbice which only a handful rich persons will use because of the high cost of transportation. No one, except the honcho and de facto president, knows how much the stadium will cost or how the contractor was awarded the contract. Were there any kickbacks and if so, who it was paid to. So, while the government is investing heavily in hi-tech ID cards and infrastructure which are of little importance to the people, more that 60 percent of the population are poor and are struggling to put food on the table or send their children to school. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the America, and who many Guyanese has held in their hands on the US $:100 bill, has said “where all men think alike no man thinks at all.” We hope the honcho and de facto president understands the wise and well thought out words issued by Franklin.
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Belize
As if there were not enough fires for the Government to be putting out, there is another report tonight that requires some answers, particularly, from the Ministry of Transport. A letter, purportedly sent by Chief Executive Officer, Adele Catzim, is now questioning a payment of over one hundred and eight thousand dollars made out to a relatively new company called, The Sign Factory. The CEO is questioning the procurement procedures used in giving the contract for license plates, asking if they are in accordance with the procurement guidelines. Reports in other media outlets are saying that the contract was issued to a relative of a government minister, but we could not confirm that allegation. We have reached out to the Minister of Transport, Rodwell Williams, but he says he will give a comment when he returns in-country.
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