The award of a $183M contract, for the construction of road and drainage structures at the Lethem Industrial Estate, is stirring controversy in Region Nine, where residents are worried about the winning firm’s track record and its use of Brazilian workers.
The Public Works Ministry contract was won by Alfred, Chandroutie and Paulo (ACAP) Construc-tion Company, which is headed by businessman Alfred Ramsarran, who also heads the Interim Management Committee of the Ireng/ Sawariwau Neighbourhood Democra-tic Council (NDC).
A former member of the NDC, who requested anonymity, said he was angered about the decision to award the contract to ACAP, given its association with the NDC through Ramsarran.
He also said he thinks that ACAP is not the right company to do the job since it did some rehabilitation work on the roads in Lethem last year and after two weeks the roads started to deteriorate rapidly.
He further stated that even though the company is registered in Guyana, he learned it would be bringing workers as well as machinery from neighbouring Brazil to undertake the work. “The company is a locally-registered company. Then why are they importing workers and machinery from Brazil? What provisions would be put in place so that the community would benefit from? And I am quite sure that 90% of the revenue will go to Brazil,” he said.
But Chandroutie Khan, a partner in ACAP and also Ramsarran’s spouse, revealed that their partner, Paulo, who is a Brazilian, has the required machinery to tackle the job. She explained that only the operators of the machinery would be Brazilians, while the other workers would be Guyanese. The reason for this is that the Brazilian partner would feel much comfortable if “his own people” operate his machinery, she said.
“Why we formed a company with the Brazilian was because the Brazilians have the “know-how” in these type of constructions and when we bring in machines from Brazil we consult a broker, who does the paperwork and the machines then come in. We are also in the process of acquiring work permits and necessary documents for Brazilian operators to coming in,” she stated.
Khan said even though the company is awaiting a letter of confirmation to begin the works, it has started to mobilise the resources.
Regional Democratic Council member Carl Parker told Stabroek News that given Ramsarran’s association with the NDC, the issue of him “being master and servant at the same time” arises.
