PM wants value for money on all state contracts
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley says even improved and amended procurement legislation would not have helped the Government save over $200 million on the Curepe Interchange project, as even with such legislation there were ways for corrupt politicians to use more taxpayers’ money.
“If what passed for competition then was allowed to prevail, you could simply have said that the job was tendered and the lowest bidder was $440 million and therefore you gave the contract to that bidder and not the one for $500 million and nobody in T&T would have had a problem with that,” Rowley said during the official opening of the interchange.
“But somebody would have walked away with $200 million more than what was required. I am sure that the contractors involved in this project made a profit.”
Rowley said the project came in at a final cost of $221 million and while he was not an engineer or a quantity surveyor, he “knew” the original project price was too high.
“I knew what was happening and I knew that if the contractors were told that you are not going to get the job at that price ($440m) and we are going back out to tender, they will give you a price that is far better,” Rowley said.
He said when the Government wanted to build the swimming pool in Laventille, the initial project cost presented by the Urban Development Corporation of T&T was $24 million.
“I run UdeCoTT so fast from the Cabinet with one question, if you were going to build a swimming pool in your yard, with your money, will you spend $24 million on it?” he said.
He said the finished pool eventually cost less than $5 million.
He said he tried to ensure that in his time in Government, it would not be a time for his Cabinet “to eat” but for the taxpayer to breathe.
“I don’t care what they say on Facebook, this Government has set the tone for honest government in Trinidad and Tobago,” he said to a smattering of applause.
Rowley said based on what they were able to negotiate with the Curepe project, the cost of every other interchange “going east” would be better.
“If we had to pay $440 million for this, the next five interchanges would have cost us over $2 billion, because we would have set the tone,” he said.
He said Government also saved some $3 billion on the contract from Golconda to Point Fortin.
“We knew and we said that that contract could be broken up into sections, so as to allow our local contractors to be a part of the tendering process,” he said.
Giving the project to one contractor had “benefits” for some people, he noted. He said the initial budget for that highway expansion project was $4 billion on the eve of the 2010 general election but it went up to $7 billion after the election.
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Image: Ken Teegardin (flickr)