The Region Four administration is prepared to take legal action to ensure that its new building is constructed at the same Paradise location instead of Triumph but according to Regional Executive Officer (REO) Shafdar Alli the Triumph decision was a Cabinet one, which is “superior”.
Chairman Clement Corlette has insisted that the building should be at Paradise, noting that there were many factors, including convenience and space, which supported the desire of the majority of councillors.
Where the new building should be located had divided the Region Four administration at its very first statutory meeting and so at a subsequent meeting, Corlette had the councillors vote and this resulted in a 16:12 vote in support of the same Paradise location.
However, a re-tender notice for the construction of the building at Triumph was published in another section of the print media on Sunday, September 30. The first tender was advertised before the council was sworn in after the August 2006 polls.
The re-tender notice stated that it was inviting tenders from pre-qualified contractors to “undertake the construction of the New Administrative Building – Triumph, East Coast Demerara.”
When this newspaper spoke with Corlette on Monday he said he had no idea that such an advertisement was published and was also hopeful that it did not indicate anything about a Triumph location.
The notice indicated that it was inserted by Shafdar Alli, Regional Executive officer. When this newspaper made contact with Alli he explained that the re-tender had to be done because the then REO had estimated the building to cost more than the allocated sum. To this end, Alli added, the design was done accordingly taking into account that overstimation.
“So we had to now do a redesign according to the real amount and according to the correct bill of quantities,” Alli explained.
Quizzed about the council’s majority position as it related to where the building should be constructed, Alli told this newspaper that the Cabinet decision was taken before the council was sworn in and the tender process had already begun at the time when the council voted.
Asked whether now that there was a re-tender, if the council’s vote could be considered, Alli responded, “The Cabinet decision is still there and so this has nothing to do with the re-tendering… A Cabinet decision is supreme and it was out before the chairman did the vote with the councillors.”
This newspaper had earlier raised the matter with the responsible minister, Minister of Local Government, Kellawan Lall who also made it clear that the new building will be at Triumph.
“But I believe that the council’s wishes should be adhered to,” Regional Chairman Corlette told Stabroek News on Monday.
This newspaper had asked Lall about the council’s requests and he had said that the councillors could not decide where the building should be.
He had said too that it was the government’s decision to construct the new building at Triumph, East Coast Demerara, in the compound which also houses the regional education office.
Back in April, the then local government ministry permanent secretary Ganga Persaud had said that the issue of security was one of the reasons which prompted the decision to go ahead with construction of the building at the Triumph location.
Corlette had then argued against this saying that he did not see security as a major issue, adding that the Triumph location was no less vulnerable than the former Paradise one.
He had said too that for the year the Triumph location had already suffered three break-ins and noted that while losses were not significant it was a cause for concern if the matter of security was to be raised.
Persaud had also listed staff comfort as another reason for the Triumph choice.
At that time the PS was uncertain as to exactly when construction of the new building would begin.
And in that comment to Stabroek News in April he had stated that the bids were at the national procurement and tender administration board and as soon as it was finished work would have commenced at least one month after. This newspaper was also told by Persaud that the bidding process for contractors and the evaluation procedure had been completed.
“We even had a scenario where on all the documents and reports and so on, some councillors had put Triumph and we had it redone because we want the building at Paradise,” Corlette insisted.
Corlette showed this newspaper correspondence which he sent to Alli on August 24 informing him that at a statutory meeting of the council of December 19 last year the majority of councillors voted in support of the Paradise location.
He said many villagers have questioned him about when the construction of the building would start and also which location was decided.
“But all I say to them is that that is not fully determined,” he said.
He emphasized that the region was in need of the new building and added that Section 301 (1) of the Municipal and District Councils Act, which also covers Regional Democratic Councils, stipulated that the council should make decisions pertaining to rental or any other things related to its building.
The regional administration’s office at Paradise was destroyed by a suspicious fire just after the August 28, 2006 general elections.
The PPP/C and the PNCR-1G had cooperated on the Region Four council to share the top two positions and business on the council is being seen as a test of how well they can work together in the aftermath of the 2006 elections.
