Councillors of the Region 10 Democratic Council were told yesterday that several of the 16 incomplete projects for which monies were paid in full were abandoned, while others were halted because of inclement weather.
Meanwhile, records for at least five other projects of concern were said to have disappeared from the RDC office.
Councillors were set to move motions to fast-track investigations into a number of these projects, however, because insufficient notice was given to Regional Executive Officer Yolanda Hilliman, the process was not permitted.
Regulations that guide the functioning of RDCs stipulate that, “…a member wishing to move a motion or to ask a question shall give notice in writing to the Clerk, but a motion shall not become a subject of discussion, and a question shall not be answered, until the next ordinary meeting. The notice, if not given at a meeting of the council must be delivered to the clerk at least ninety-six hours before the meeting at which it is intended to be brought forward.”
With the motions disallowed, councillors spent some time highlighting concerns about irregularities in the regional administration. Clerk of Council/REO Hilliman informed the body that she had requested Superintendent of Works, Patrice Johnson, to prepare a detailed report on the contracts of concern.
A report on 12 projects was then read to the council. Three projects awarded to A&S General Construction were abandoned, but according to the report, the contractor is now back on board. The firm was awarded a contract for the construction of head and wing walls and installation of HDPE culverts at Central Mackenzie to the sum of $8,510,978 of which $6,275,877 was paid. The second contract was for the construction of the head wall and installation of HDPE tube/culvert in West Watooka to the value of $6,788,250 and $3,434,169 was paid. The third contract was for the upgrading of an access dam in West Watooka with a contract sum of $5,722,500 and $5,150,250 was paid to the contractor. The last site visits were done on Wednesday.
Four contracts were awarded to G Bovell Construction; none was completed. For the construction of surface water drains at Cinderella City Phase 1 Amelia’s Ward sums to the value of $7,731,728; $6,958,555 have been paid. For the rehabilitation of an access road at South Amelia’s Ward for the value of $8,189,334, the contractor received $7,370,401. For the upgrading of the carriageway at Brother Mike Street the value of the contract was $3,236,153 with $2,912,538 already paid. For the upgrading of the carriageway at Fourth Street, Christianburg the contractor received $3,858,907 of $4,287,675. All the contracts based on a site visit done during mid December 2011 were between 85% – 90% completed. The excuse given was that they were affected by November to January inclement weather and the contractor had requested an extension period.
Gordon Callender was awarded a contract for the installation of an automatic switch at the Upper Demerara Hospital to the value of $8,086,621 and $7,277,959 was paid. The project is said to be 90% complete and the automatic switch, which is left to be installed, was on site when visited on 6 February.
Pioneer General Construction received $6,580,822 of $7,312,025 for the rehabilitation of the Upper Demerara Hospital and the x-ray lead wall remains outstanding.
JPM Construction won a $10,184,879.00 contract for the extension of the Harmony Secondary School. With the electrical installation and finishing touches in progress the contractor has drawn down in total, $7,277,019.
Godfrey’s contract for the extension of the One Mile Nursery School valued at $4,250,594 of which $3,145,136 was paid was said to be incomplete with the doors, windows and painting still to be finished.
Basdeo Roopnauth was the only contractor who had received approximately half the total value of his contract of $3,950,000 for the resurfacing of the Amelia’s Ward Basketball Court, yet despite inclement weather had managed to complete 50% of the works.
The report did not provide information as it related to the initial date of completion of any of the projects. According to the report, Johnson stated that in the absence of both contract registers for 2011, the information provided was subject to amendments.
“Further, an independent investigation is currently being conducted relative to the three alleged incomplete projects with a letter requesting the relative information similar to your request which will be submitted by the respective project officer on or before Monday, February 13, 2012,” Hilliman read from the report. She then insisted that the report be submitted no later than today.
In a separate missive to the REO, Johnson indicated that there was a number of missing contract copies from the regional administration files. Johnson’s letter read, “… please note that consequent to an independent investigation of three alleged incomplete projects as published in the national newspapers; this letter serves to inform you that on entry to the contract copy file, it was discovered that the files were tampered with and specific contract copies have been extracted from its sequence of respective order and cannot be located.”
The missing entries are for five projects which were issued by the previous REO Henry Rodney. These contracts were legally awarded, falling under the limit permitted by law, and did not necessitate passing through the region’s Procurement Board.
Two of the contracts were awarded to Cardex Construction for repairs and maintenance works to Sand Hills Health Post in the Berbice River to the sum of $498,400 and Repairs and maintenance works to Sand Hills Health House Berbice River to the sum of $497,400. Two contracts were given to Roger Shepherd—one for the repairs, maintenance and overhauling of the electrical system at the Regional Stores in Linden valuing $249,990 and the repairs and modification to electrical systems at the Christianburg Wismar Secondary School to the sum of $531,700.
The other contract under investigation and for which records have mysteriously disappeared was that issued to Darron Transportation for emergency work to the generator set and the administration building in Linden.
Independent of the intended moving of motions as it related to these discrepancies, the members of the 7th council indicated at their first decision making sitting yesterday that they would remain vigilant to ensure that corruption in the regional administration especially, as it regards the issuing of contracts, payments for same and incompletion, is wiped out.
Following the installation of the 7th Council of Region 10 concerns were raised about a number of projects in the region for which most if not all monies were paid but the works were never completed.
