Barbados
The Barbados Port Incorporated (BPI) has hit a snag in its efforts to install a waste-to-energy system.
Speaking from the Lower House on Monday evening, Chief Executive Officer of the BPI David Jean-Marie said that during the procurement process for the incinerator, there were no successful bidders for a “turn-key” waste-to-energy operation.
“We’ve taken some time to get to the point of having a waste-to-energy incinerator designed and built. Because it’s a critical piece of infrastructure and is quite expensive, we want to make sure we get it done right. We did go out to public tender via the Crown Agents to procure a turn-key operation, a waste-to-energy incinerator, and there were no successful bidders,” he said.
Jean-Marie said that a tender has since gone out seeking external applicants.
“A decision was subsequently taken to invite designers, engineers to design a facility. That tender closes on the 27th of February. We will take about three months to evaluate and thereafter advertise for a contractor to build out the waste-to-energy incinerator,” he stated.
The new facility, which will replace the port’s existing incinerator, will use less energy and reduce pollutant emissions and consists of a wet-dry incinerator and a steam rankine cycle turbine.
“The waste-to-energy incinerator is fully capable of taking all types of waste. The old incinerator could not take wet waste and so on, but this one is going to take all forms of waste. It should be smoke-less and we will also convert the waste into energy,” the CEO added.
Last year, the BPI finalised a BDS $100 million loan with the IDB Invest, to support the purchase and installation of the waste-to-energy system, the purchase and installation of up to 1.5 Megawatts of additional rooftop photovoltaic solar capacity and repairs and upgrades to the port’s berth number four.
“We are implementing a number of photovoltaics around the port and we have invited expressions of interest. We expect later on this year to award the tender and to be able to generate up to about two megawatts of energy by 2025. Our expectation is that we will be generating close to 50 per cent of our power usage via alternative [sources],” he continued.
Jean-Marie noted that the port is also looking into the new technology of shore power, where ships could come into port and be plugged in and turn off their generators and the engines.
“We currently have a number of conversations going on with various entities. For example, last week we spoke to a major tug group, who want to bring barges that will have LNG power that will provide us with the shore power. Otherwise, it would involve significant investments working with the Barbados Light and Power. So we are exploring the possibility of shore power and we are having those conversations with the various lines and seeing where those installations exist. There are very few and it’s rather early days yet, but we’ll be paying attention to that area also,” Jean-Marie added.
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Trinidad and Tobago
After having spent $27 million of taxpayers’ dollars on the newly refurbished 24-room Manta Lodge Hotel comes word it will remain shut for another six months, while the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) looks for an operator to run the place.
The 2-star hotel located in Speyside, Tobago was last week Wednesday handed over to the THA by the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT) but after years and a lot of controversy over the decision to purchase and refurbish the hotel the Chief Secretary told Express Business a Request for Proposals (RFP) was expected to go out today.
Augustine explained that the RFP wasn’t sent out during construction because it was difficult to predict a completion date for the project.
“Since coming into office, this is probably the third completion date the THA got from UDeCOTT. The space also had to be ready for a walk-through by potential operators. The hotel is basically turn- key as every room is already furnished and just awaiting the operator’s specific touch/decorating.
“Everything down to security cameras/system, full commercial kitchen, dining room furnishings, and outdoor/patio furniture among others are already in place. It is a turn-key project and so the successful operator won’t have much to do,” he remarked.
Asked how long he believed it would take between RFP and the award to a private entity, Augustine said a maximum of one month. He denied having conversations with a private entity about taking over the hotel. Augustine said he held no conversations as that would be improper.
“It is an open tender process, which means that everyone and anyone from anywhere in the country or around the globe will have a fair chance to make their pitch and to be considered,” he concluded.
He noted that the hotel is being pitched to open in time for August (summer tourist season) and well before Tobago’s peak season, which usually starts in October (winter).
In the interim, Augustine said the THA expects the hotel to be abuzz with tours from potential operators and also during that period, checks for faulty construction work will happen.
Asked whether he was concerned with the physical integrity as the hotel has been closed since 2015, the Chief Secretary indicated that the period of closure is well within the defects liability period.
“Further, the THA went abroad to World Travel Markets and advertised that Manta Lodge will be available to guests from the first quarter of 2016. We are now in the first quarter of 2023. So as far as the integrity of the brand goes, we will have to do some work to re-sell it,” he acknowledged.
Speaking on the issue, former chief secretary Ancil Dennis said the plan by his administration the People’s National Movement (PNM) when the party was in power, was to hire a professional hotel management company to run the hotel.
“We were looking at a model similar to the HYATT in Trinidad, where the hotel is owned by the Government through UDeCOTT, but it is managed by the HYATT brand, so that was the then-THA’s intention,” Dennis said.
He is hopeful that the Manta Lodge Hotel can be opened this year and be managed outside of the public service sector.
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Trinidad and Tobago
A Trinidad and Tobago company- Davis Ecolife – has been ordered to repay the National Data Management Authority (NDMA) more than $6.1M over its failure to supply the authority with two Eco Pods.
The judgement was handed down earlier this month by High Court Judge, Gino Persaud.
An Eco Pod building system is a system that combines energy efficient building systems with solar technology to offer one complete product.
In a statement on Monday, the Attorney General’s Chamber explained that on November 30, 2018, the National Procurement and Tender Administration awarded Davis Ecolife a contract to the tune of US$66,941 for the provision of two (2) Eco Pods for NDMA.
On the December 4, 2018, NDMA and Davis Ecolife Ltd signed an agreement for the supply of two (2) prefabricated enclosures (Eco Pods) to house ICT hubs at two sites identified by NDMA.
However, though an initial sum of US$28,449.54 or GUY$6,159,325 was paid to Davis Ecolife on January 22, 2019, the company failed to make good on the contractual arrangement.
“The said Agreement had a completion date of 25th January 2019, however, Davis Ecolife Ltd. failed and/or neglected to perform the contract in accordance with the agreed completion date,” the AG’s Chambers explained.
However, it took NDMA some four years before it moved to the Court to recover the sum. Through the Attorney General’s Chambers, NDMA, on January 31, 2023 filed an amended Fixed Date Application seeking a number of reliefs, including an order for Davis Ecolife to refund the Data Management Authority.
The Trinidadian company, however, failed to file an Affidavit in Defence, and after two missed sessions, the Court on February 2 granted the Application’s judgment in the sum of $6,1M and costs in the sum of $500,000 in favour of NDMA.
NDMA was represented by the Attorney General, Anil Nandlall SC MP, and Mr. Teakaram Singh, State Counsel. Davis Eco Life Ltd was initially represented by Attorney-at-law, Mr Javed Shadick and thereafter by Ms. Marissa Nadir. Both Attorneys withdrew their appearances in the matter.
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Guyana
On Friday, the Ministry of Housing and Water signed a mind-boggling $56.8b worth of infrastructural development works with contractors across the country. Housing is a lynchpin of the government’s manifesto and the Ali administration is clearly losing no time in advancing its plans for 50,000 house lots at the end of the five-year term replete with infrastructure and other major projects such as Silica City on the Linden/ Soesdyke Highway and transforming Palmyra on the Corentyne.
Just for context, that one session of the signing of contracts at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre is equivalent to 7.2% of the entire budget presented in January this year and just for comparison purposes and to demonstrate the vast annual expansion of the budget it represents 40% of the 2010 figure.
True to form, the contract signings came with the perfunctory warning from the Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal about delays not being tolerated and the need to fulfil the commitment made by the government to citizens.
“This government has made commitments to the people of Guyana and to applicants who are waiting for their lots. So, therefore, you have to ensure you meet your timelines,” Mr Croal exhorted.
Helpfully, he also advised that he was available if problems arose. “Should you be confronted with issues and you are not seeing them addressed, my office is open to resolve issues… I don’t have an open door policy when you are tendering but from today you are my business… because we have a mandate to deliver and I have an open door policy in that regard,” Mr Croal told the contractors.
Adverting to the manifesto commitments made by the PPP/C the minister said: “This year we have strategised even more on how to ensure we meet our mandate… Every day the projects team’s mandate is increasing and the volume is also increasing”.
Notwithstanding the injustice of the deformed deal with ExxonMobil and its partners, the oil being extracted from beneath the Atlantic seabed has turbocharged government spending to stratospheric levels. The change envisaged could be transformative, however, great care must be taken to ensure that money is not wasted on poor work, stolen or frittered away. Evidence of this has already appeared under this government on relatively small projects. There has been little guidance from the ministries of Housing and Water and Public Works – under which the bulk of the expenditure is coming – on what steps are being taken to ensure value for money, quality work and scrupulous adherence to plans and timelines.
Delays are routine on many infrastructural projects, a function of the global supply chain problems, a shortage of human resources and the difficulty in sourcing materials. With the majority of these contracts requiring sand, stone and cement at the same time along with skilled labourers it isn’t difficult to conceive of a perfect storm brewing and gridlock developing. One contractor alone has secured $1.6b worth of infrastructure work in two tranches for Palmyra. Can this contractor deliver simultaneously on both? When the awards were being made were the Evaluation Committees of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) aware of the capacities of these contractors and that they may be securing multiple contracts?
It would be in the best interest of the people and the government for Messrs Croal and Edghill to provide matrices by which all of these major works can be evaluated contemporaneously and kept on track. The occasional announced or unannounced visit by the minister or other ministry officials won’t cut it. There needs to be structured and consistent evaluation of these projects and a feedback mechanism involving the public and all stakeholders.
Good governance here needs a competent inspectorate – separated from ministry influence – to meticulously examine the works being done not only for compliance with timelines but, more importantly, for a high standard of work not requiring remediation soon after or unjustified cost overruns.
In each locality where projects are being undertaken, the schedule of works with timelines should be me made available to community leaders and citizens by the procuring agencies. Even though not functioning properly, the local government system can still provide an early warning for what might be going wrong. Regional councils, municipalities and neighbourhood democratic councils (NDCs) should be provided with training by the government, the Office of the Auditor General and the NPTAB on what to look for in these projects and to interface with both the contractor and the consultants.
Over the years, there have been stark failures by consultants on large projects like these. They simply do not diligently undertake their tasks. They, too, need to be held accountable. Whether performance bonds have been lodged and are accessed if contractors do not deliver is another area where there have been notable failures. The public awaits full accounting for the expenditures on the contract which was terminated by Minister Edghill as no work had been done despite mobilisation monies paid out and what happens with the contract for the Parika Market which was incinerated when sparks from the contractor’s workers ignited inflammable material.
As the overarching arbiter of the expenditure of public funds, one wants to see a far greater role for the Office of the Auditor General (OAG). It is invested with enormous constitutional powers to preserve the public coin of which its examination of the annual accounts is but one despite being the best known. Special audits – staff permitting – are a vital tool at its disposal which should enable it to examine the use of public monies in as close to real time as possible for a selection of these big ticket items.
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Bahamas
The Opposition’s leader yesterday pledged to “leave no stone unturned” in holding the Government accountable while asserting that the Public Accounts Committee is now “rolling” into action.
Michael Pintard, speaking after Cabinet ministers read out written answers to multiple questions posed by the Opposition during the House of Assembly sitting, told Tribune Business that Parliament’s public spending watchdog is due to question Luther Smith, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Works and Utilities, at 10am this morning.
“Things are rolling with the Public Accounts Committee,” he said. “We’re going to be putting questions to Luther Smith tomorrow [today]. Some of them revolve around not just the Water & Sewerage Corporation but Bahamas Power & Light (BPL). We’re not going to leave any stone unturned with trying to get them [the Government] to be accountable and transparent. We’re going to come at them from multiple angles.”
The Public Accounts Committee, whose main function is to scrutinise government spending, is the only parliamentary select committee on which the Opposition holds a majority and can thus seek to set the agenda. While Mr Pintard’s move to replace Long Island MP, Adrian Gibson, with fellow FNM member, Iram Lewis, drew much attention yesterday, the Opposition leader said he was “looking forward to sitting” with Mr Smith.
Promising to make as many committee hearings as possible open to attendance by the public, Mr Pintard added: “We are going to look at opening things up going forward. Our goal is to make this as open as possible for the public to observe the work that is taking place.”
He spoke as the Prime Minister accused the former Minnis administration, in which Mr Pintard was a member, of “a cynical attempt.. to appear to be fiscally responsible” by bringing the Public Procurement Act into legal effect just three weeks before his government took office on September 22, 2021.
Philip Davis KC, in responding to numerous Opposition questions related to public procurement, argued that the Act had been left “unworkable in many respects” on its implementation due to what he described as “hastily designed provisions”. His administration has since unveiled a new Bill designed to remedy these deficiencies, which has already been tabled in Parliament and subsequently circulated for wider stakeholder consultation.
Responding to questions from Mr Pintard, who called on the Prime Minister to explain why the Government “continues to break the law” surrounding the publication of public contract awards and their values, Mr Davis said the Act “came into force in the middle of a [general election] campaign” despite being passed several months earlier.
“While the Government acknowledges the importance of compliance with the Act, it has been working diligently to address these issues since coming into office on September 22, 2021,” Mr Davis said. “The Act was passed in a cynical attempt by the previous administration to appear to be fiscally responsible. It did not come into force until several months after it had been passed, just before the election.
“The provisions were hastily designed, and left the legislation unworkable in many respects. For example, the enabling resources and training to effect implementation were not in place. The Government has taken several steps to address the gaps in the procurement system, including tabling a revised Act, creating a procurement career path in the public service, and acquiring new procurement software.
“These measures are intended to ensure that all future procurement processes comply with the Public Procurement Act. The Government remains committed to transparency, accountability and good governance in all its activities and will work to ensure that all laws and regulations are applied appropriately.”
Mr Pintard, though, was unimpressed by the answers received from the Prime Minister and his Cabinet ministers. “They were playing cute,” he told this newspaper. “What they don’t appreciate is we will take their answers, do the reviews and be back in the House shortly. Some of them did not answer the substantive part of their questions.”
The Opposition leader took “another stab” at the issue last by reading before the House of Assembly questions concerning Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) $150m unpaid arrears and the Government’s borrowing of $232.3m in special drawing rights (SDRs) from the Central Bank.
As to the Prime Minister’s Public Procurement Act reply, Mr Pintard said the Government was clearly non-compliant with provisions in the existing law that require the identities of winning bidders and the value of contracts be disclosed within 60 days of their award. This means that all contracts awarded between September 1, 2021, and December 21, 2022, should have been revealed publicly.
Few have, and the Opposition leader argued that the Government’s non-compliance “sends the wrong message to a local and international audience” while also “undermining the moral message” when the Prime Minister calls on others to obey the law.
“Until such time as they change the law, they are required to comply with the law,” Mr Pintard argued of the Government. “What are they trying to hide by failing to publish all the contracts they’ve been issuing to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars?”
Mr Davis, though, yesterday pledged that his administration is working with a consultant to finalise a report that will list the contracts entered into by the Government since the Act took effect. “The Ministry of Finance in conjunction with Go Bonfire is finalising the report listing contracts awarded by the Government. We aim to have the first edition published in due course,” he added. “All ministries, departments, and agencies will be fully compliant.”
The Prime Minister added that the Government has not appointed a Procurement Review Tribunal, as allowed for and called to by the existing Act, because it is “mindful” of the impending legislative reforms. And, while the Minnis administration had identified persons to serve on the Public Procurement Board, its successor did not proceed with their appointments due to concerns about the Board’s structure.
“While the previous government had identified individuals to be appointed to the Public Procurement Board (PPB), these individuals were never formally appointed,” Mr Davis said.”After reviewing the Act, the current administration had serious concerns about the structure of the Public Procurement Board and decided that it was best not to proceed with the previous government’s appointments.”
Asserting that the procurement system in effect on September 1, 2021, did not capture all information on contract awards as required by the Act, the Prime Minister said of the Go Bonfire report: “The report will outline the steps to ensure compliance with the Act, including creating a procurement career path in the public service and acquiring new procurement software.
“The Government is committed to transparency and accountability in all its procurement processes. It will work to ensure that all future procurements are conducted in accordance with the Public Procurement Act. Once the report is completed, it will be laid on the table of the honourable house.”
Taking further shots at the former administration, Mr Davis said: “Despite unprecedented levels of borrowing and expenditure, which left our national debt at more than 100 percent, the previous administration failed to properly and fully account for how billions of dollars of public money was spent, or who the recipients were of that spending……
As per the law, all ministries, departments, and agencies are required to have a Tenders Board that reviews all procurement opportunities. If the value of the bid exceeds $250,000, it is then submitted to the procurement department for a no-objection review. This is in sharp contrast to the practices of the previous administration, under which many procurement arrangements remain obscure.”
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