In the wake of the raging controversy over the multiple retendering of a contract for the supply of steel sheet piles, the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) has withdrawn retenders for four other projects.
In a notice in yesterday’s Stabroek News, the NDIA cancelled retenders for the following projects:
-The construction of a pump station to irrigate Black Bush Frontlands, East Berbice, Corentyne, Region Six;
-The construction of a pump station at Cottage, Mahaicony, Region Five;
-The construction of a farm to market road on the right bank of the Mahaicony, Region Five;
-The construction of Georgetown Drainage System & Infrastructure, Phase 1, North Road Concrete Drains, Region Four.
The notice signed by the Chief Executive Officer (ag) Dave Hicks apologised for any inconvenience caused.
The withdrawal of these retenders will raise even more questions about the practices of the NDIA and procurement fairness. On Friday, in a revised press release explaining the debacle over the steel sheets retendering, the NDIA said that the global price for steel had far surpassed its budgetary allocation and this had been the cause for retendering. It insisted that there was “no mischief afoot”.
It is unclear what would be the reason for the withdrawal of the four retenders as steel sheet piles would not be a major input.
