It came as no surprise that the contract for the US$15.4M Amaila Access Roads was terminated. The hurriedly convened press conference by the Minister of Works Mr Robeson Benn on Thursday however left the general public wondering what the sudden urgency was. Was it an attempt to upstage the convening of Parliament later in the day or to distance the project from the parliamentary periscope? After all, many members of the public, civic groups and politicians had railed against the award of the access roads contract to Mr Motilall and had predicted this dire outcome months before. They had cited the unanswered and apparently unanswerable contention that Mr Motilall was out of his depth in relation to building roads of this type as he had never done it before. Moreover, the lenience of the government towards favoured contractors like Mr Motilall, performance bond or no performance bond, is also legendary and undeniable. The cocooning of the Chinese contractors CNTIC in respect of the Skeldon factory is but one case in point. Beijing’s growing clout here may preserve this one a little longer.
Then there was the recent declaration by the Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Luncheon that the completion date for the project was pushed back to March/April without any inkling at all that Mr Motilall was on his way out.
Political pundits would venture to theorize that had the ruling party secured a parliamentary majority at the recent elections, Mr Motilall’s contract would have had an unending and unquestioned bond-supported run towards conclusion. Different circumstances now prevail in Parliament and the firing of the contractor may represent yet another attempt – albeit a small one – to distance President Ramotar and his government from the tarnished dealings of this contract and former President Jagdeo. It also sets up President Ramotar as somebody willing to take tough action even against contractors like Mr Motilall who had apparently had the inside track and could do no wrong.
Even though the government has now set its course in relation to Mr Motilall’s Synergy, it must have realized that its minority status means that it no longer commands the sea lanes in the ocean of questionable deals constructed by the previous administration.
In keeping with their longstanding and publicly articulated concerns about this project, it is expected that the PNCR et al in APNU and the Alliance For Change will urgently make the Amaila Falls Access Roads project a case study on what went wrong in this government procurement and determine who should be held accountable and liable.
It will be an early test of the Ramotar administration’s willingness to recognize the opposition’s and the public’s right to enquire into the contracts of this magnitude and importance. So whether it be via the Economic Services Committee, the Natural Resources Committee or the Public Accounts Committee or some instrument under Article 13 of the Constitution, the ball should be set rolling and a request should be made as soon as possible for a copy of the contract concluded between Synergy and the Jagdeo administration.
A series of matters has to be investigated.
-Should a company like Synergy, which spent many years prospecting for the Amaila Falls hydropower project and gaining inside knowledge on it, have been permitted to enter a competitive process for the construction of access roads to the facility? Wasn’t this unfair to the other bidders?
-How were its bona fides relative to building of roads in virgin forest established? Was the bid evaluation committee privy in the examination process to information about Synergy’s road building prowess that the public has never seen? Was there sufficient information to enable Synergy to continue in the bidding process?
-When the matter was deliberated on by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board, did it avail itself of all the pertinent information to make a final declaration of the eligibility of the contractor?
-What benchmarks were set out in the contract to measure progress on the road and what steps were taken to ensure that these were being kept.
-How much of the access roads was eventually done according to the revised contract specification and was there any overpayment on the contract?
While the loss of control of Parliament has been a shocking plunge into the icy depths for the PPP/C it should to the same extent shake the opposition out of the torpor that has traditionally characterized its parliamentary presence. There is much work to be done.