While not denying or agreeing with Opposition Member of Parliament Ganesh Mahipaul who yesterday highlighted a number of incomplete pump station contracts throughout the country and questioned the oversight of the procuring entity, the Ministry of Agriculture said that it will soon respond to the claims.
“The ministry will be providing a response to this very shortly,” Head of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) Lionel Wordsworth told the Stabroek News when contacted.
“I feel compelled to express grave concerns regarding the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority’s management of critical projects. The NDIA must provide answers and be held accountable for this level of incompetence,” Mahipaul wrote in a letter which was published in yesterday’s edition of the Stabroek News.
“…As a member of the Public Accounts Committee, I demand accountability and transparency from the NDIA. Taxpayer funds must be managed responsibly and efficiently, and these incomplete projects warrant thorough investigation and corrective action. The public’s trust and the prudent use of their hard-earned money are at stake, and we will continue to fulfil our oversight responsibilities diligently,” he wrote.
Producing images of the construction work at some of the sites yesterday, Mahipaul again lamented over what he said was the NDIA’s lax attitude in the spending of billions of taxpayers’ dollars on projects he believes are not managed efficiently.
In his letter, the Opposition Member of Parliament highlighted a number of projects.
“Let me present the facts: On July 8, 2022, a substantial contract of $544,890,203 was awarded to Adamantium Holdings for the construction of a Pump Station at Charity, Region 2. The stipulated completion date for this project was July 8, 2023. Presently, only 10% of the work has been completed. Such an outcome not only raises eyebrows but also necessitates a thorough examination of taxpayer resources,” he stated.
He continued, “Furthermore, Adamantium Holdings, the same entity responsible for the Charity Pump Station, was also granted the contract for the rehabilitation of the Pump Station at Cozier, Region 2, valued at $261,080,869. The slated completion date was April 16, 2023, yet only 45% of the work has been executed.”
Listing another contract in Region 3, Mahipaul said it “raises serious concerns regarding the efficient utilisation of public finances.
“The contract awarded to Civcon Engineering Contractors for the construction of a Pump Station at A-Line Sluice, West Bank Demerara, was worth a substantial $717,095,940, with a completion date of June 12, 2023. Presently, a mere 8% of the project is finalised, despite 25% of the contract sum having been disbursed.”
Mahipaul said that equally disconcerting “is the situation with the contract granted to Well Built Construction Service for the construction of a Pump Station at Canal No 1 Sluice (southern side). Valued at $650,074,684, the project was expected to be completed by May 31, 2023, yet only 25% of the work is done, and 30% of the contract sum has already been expended.
“In addition, the construction of a Pump Station at Cottage on the West Coast Berbice, assigned to VALS Construction with a budget of $903,371,020, was slated for completion on December 1, 2022. As it stands, only 44% of the project is finalised. Such inefficiency is unacceptable when it comes to the prudent use of taxpayer resources,” he added.
Turning to Berbice, Mahipaul pointed to the construction of a Pump Station at Black Bush Polder to irrigate Black Bush frontlands, awarded to Yunas Civil & Building Construction, “for a substantial sum of $978,715,000” and which “had an expected completion date of April 23, 2023.
“However, only 14% of the work is completed, with 20% of the contract sum already disbursed,” he lamented. And vowing to visit a number of the construction sites where taxpayers’ finances are being used, Mahipaul said that he would not stop until the government is held accountable for its spending.
“What I want is accountability, transparency and good governance for the taxpayers’ money. I am fed up of ‘what the previous government did, what the one did before’; I am concerned as a politician to do the right thing,” he said.
“I am concerned about informing the present, so that we don’t make the same mistakes in the future. For too long political parties here in Guyana have been playing tug of war about what this one did and the other did. I am concerned about doing the right thing for the Guyanese people. … What past politicians did will not define me. What will, is what I did. I am exposing wanton disregard for the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act; where contractors are given large sums of money and can’t show what the money did,” he added.
“I want the Auditor General to be more forceful in executing the functions of his office and hold the government accountable for this lacklustre behaviour,” he said.
“We are too rich a country now to be hiring incompetence …and protecting friends, family and favourites,” he added.
Referring to the $865 million Belle Vue, West Bank Demerara, Pump Station contract award to Tepui Group which former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran said was flawed, as not only should the company have been disqualified for not meeting the bidding criteria, but the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board erred when it lumped two other contracts to the award, Mahipaul said that the contracts he highlighted follow the same pattern.
“It is clear evidence that the contracts were awarded to incompetent people. It is clear that they did not satisfy the criteria that they have past experience in building projects of this nature. All of these are over the allocated construction completion time and failure to deliver…,” he contended.
“None of the contractors have past experience of building projects of this nature. Pump stations are very technical and require technical skills. In the advertisement it said one of the criteria was showing you [built] products of a similar nature. It means either a pump station or a similar project.”
Member of Parliament David Patterson has asked the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) to investigate whether the award of the Tepui contract was aboveboard.
Patterson contended that the contractor, Tepui Group Inc, was not eligible for the award since it did not have the requisite experience stipulated in the bid documents, that is, successful completion of projects similar in nature and size within the last three years. Tepui Group was formed in August 2022.
The PPC has since replied to him informing that an investigation would be launched.
