Surendra Engineering, the firm responsible for the Enmore sugar packaging facility, has been awarded the contract for the construction of the Specialty Hospital, at Liliendaal, on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD).
Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon yesterday announced that Cabinet at its most recent meeting gave its no-objection to a US$18,180,000 ($3,689,616,400) contract awarded for the design, building and equipping of the Specialty Hospital.
Luncheon did not name Surendra Engineering as the firm that won the contract. However, this newspaper was told that the firm won the contract and the award figure matches its bid.
In June, five companies bid to construct the Specialty Hospital at Liliendaal under a line of credit from the Indian government. Apart from Surendra Engineering, bids were received from Shapoorji Pallonji (US$42,473,600 or $8.4 billion), Fedders Lloyd US$17,679,000 or $3.4 billion), Jaguar Overseas Limit-ed (US$15,658,000 or $3.05 billion) and Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research of India (US$19.5 million or $3.8 billion).
No local company submitted a bid, while all companies submitting had to meet requirements set by government, including at least US$400,000 bid bond security from a local bank and a constructive design model of what the building would look like, or their bids would be void. Shapoorji and Fedders Lloyd were the only two of the five companies that satisfied all of the requirements for bidding when they were opened by the National Procurement and Tender Adminis-tration Board (NPTAB) in June. Surendra Engineering and the Vydehi Institute were the only two companies that did not submit a bid security bond from a local bank at the time of the opening.
Preparatory works began at the site in January this year for the project, which was the subject of scrutiny by the opposition since the start of the year.
Meantime, Luncheon also announced yesterday that contracts for the rehabilitation of the Lethem ($36.78M) and Imbaimadai ($68.8M) airstrips also received cabinet’s no objection.
Also in the public works sector, a $29.19M contract for the rehabilitation of the Sophia/Guyhoc Park Bridge also received Cabinet’s no objection, while in the Housing and Water Sector a $25.5M contract for the laying of a water network between Providence and Diamond on the East Bank of Demerara also received a no objection.
