With the removal of a transmission mast at Sparendaam one of the central points of investigation into the origins of the Pradoville 2 housing scheme, former President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday presented documents to show that its relocation was required for safe operations at the Ogle Airport.
Jagdeo was one of a series of persons questioned by the Special Organised Crime Unit last week Tuesday about the project.
At a press conference yesterday at Freedom House, Jagdeo, General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) said that Pradoville 2 had cost a lot to develop because the Ogle Airport required that the Radio Mast for the National Communications Network (NCN) be removed.
He also provided the media with letters for the removal of the Radio Mast from Manager of the Ogle Airport, Anthony Mekdeci.
Observers in the past had noted that requests were made for the relocation of the mast since 2004 but it didn’t occur for a very long time after, apparently when it was decided that there should be a housing scheme there.
The first letter on April 19, 2004 was sent to Rawle Edinboro of Central Housing and Planning Authority asking that the mast be removed or reduced in height. The letter stated that in its present location the mast penetrates the Obstacle Clearance Limits of the New Runaway Development and was a hazard to aviation.
Mekdeci also sent a letter on June 20, 2005 to C. Ramphul, the Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority and on May 10, 2007 to Mohamed Sattaur, Chief Executive Officer of NCN, regarding the removal. The 2005 letter to Ramphul had also suggested that with new technology the height of the mast could be lowered. It doesn’t appear as if this option was taken up.
In 2007, Indian consultant, RK Jain wrote a letter to Sattaur, explaining that the maximum tower height at Sparendaam is 147 ft. 7 inches but that the actual height of the tower is shown as 350 ft.
Jagdeo said the correspondences long predated the development of Pradoville 2 but yet the government always conveys the impression that the sole purpose of removing the mast was for the establishment of the housing scheme.
He noted that the expenditure on removing the mast and shifting it elsewhere added to the development cost of the scheme.
He lamented: “That was how it (is) spun because if people see that the development cost is huge they would say that there was a splurge in that area… Even in the face of knowledge, the government does that all the time.”
The Pradoville 2 investigation was part of a larger probe of the financial operations of the Central Housing and Planning Authority that was conducted by accounting firm Ram & McRae and which concluded that a criminal case for misfeasance could be made against the PPP/C Cabinet members who benefited.
The firm found that awardees grossly underpaid for the lots by a total of nearly $250 million, while the state-owned National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), NCN and Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) were never reimbursed for millions spent to execute preparatory works.
