Despite concerns over the propriety of a $865 million contract to build a pump station at Belle Vue, West Bank Demerara work is getting underway.
The Sunday Stabroek visited the site yesterday and saw evidence of preliminary works.
The Tepui Group, in which social media personality Mikhail Rodrigues, known as “Guyanese Critic”, is a principal, had been awarded the contract by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). This led to complaints that it was unqualified and did not have the wherewithal for the project. A complaint was then lodged with the Public Procurement Commission.
The Sunday Stabroek yesterday observed several workers from Tepui Group Inc painting the piles for the pump station and an excavator bearing the company’s logo was in operation on the work site.
This newspaper attempted to get details from Rodrigues but was curtly told that “he has nothing to say to Stabroek News”.
This newspaper spoke to two local workers and a non-Guyanese worker who related that “works are now starting up”.
The non-Guyanese who spoke Spanish related that “he and the other guys are painting the piles”.
Last Wednesday Stabroek News was apprised by the Head of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) Lionel Wordsworth that he and the Regional Engineer of the (NDIA) visited the pump station and that works were being done at a dam.
These works were originally slated to begin on June 27, 2023, after the $865 million pump station contract was awarded but encountered delays.
In the interim, APNU+AFC MPs Ganesh Mahipaul and David Patterson argued that the contract awardee did not meet the requirements of the standard evaluation criteria for bidders.
Patterson, who is the Shadow Minister of Public Works, has also charged that the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) has been evading the subject of the impropriety of the contract award for roughly the last six months.
The former minister asserted that his decision to take legal action against the commission for dereliction of responsibilities and inaction concerning this matter of public interest is “unwavering.”
This newspaper’s efforts to contact the Chairperson of the PPC, Pauline Chase on the subject have been unsuccessful.
Patterson who has been vocal on the situation recapped that it has been six months since the Procurement Commission vowed a thorough probe of the controversial pump station contract, but to date, nothing has come out of that investigation.
At a press conference held by his party in January of this year, the Alliance For Change member said that in 2023 the PPC investigated 102 matters which were similar to contracts being awarded but not meeting the required evaluation criteria.
Contextually, Patterson said, the PPC can very well conduct a thorough investigation into the matter but chooses not to do so. The controversial company is led by social media commentator, Rodrigues who has privileged access to Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo and is seen to be close to the government. Moreover, Rodrigues has no prior experience of building anything like a pump station and was not known as a contractor.
The PPC on December 4, 2023, in a press release, stated that with “regard to the Tepui matter in particular, the commission took note of the matter as one of public interest.”
The commission said that during its last meeting on December 1, 2023, having received a copy of the tender proceedings from the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) on or about November 10, 2023, it considered the Report of its Operations Department and decided to put certain matters arising from it to the procuring entity – National Drainage and Irrigation Authority – and NPTAB, for response by due process.
It said that the response would be forthcoming within the next fourteen (14) days. The PPC provided no further update to the public.
Stabroek News also reported that former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran, had opined that the contract awarded to the Tepui Group was flawed, as not only should the company have been disqualified for not meeting the bidding criteria, but the NPTAB erred when it lumped two other contracts to the award.
Goolsarran explained that according to his analysis, “There has been a violation of the Procurement Act as regards the award of the contract for the construction of sluice/pump station at Belle Vue as well as the other two pump stations at Meten-Meer-Zorg and Jimbo.”
He added, “As regards the Belle Vue pump station, the system appeared to have been manipulated to facilitate the award of the contract to Tepui Group Inc.”
In response to a public advertisement last May for the construction of the sluice and pump station at Belle Vue, there were 26 bids. The highest bidder was Nabi Construction Inc. with a bid price of $1,181, 867,183, while the lowest bidder was Gavco Construction & Supplies Inc with a bid price of $740,584,800. Tepui Group’s bid was $865,543,500. Seventeen other bidders had bid prices lower than that of Tepui. The Engineer’s Estimate was $779,198,584.
Following Patterson’s disclosure of his letter to the PPC, NPTAB issued a statement defending the award, contending that: 1) 13 of the 26 bids were deemed non-responsive and were therefore not considered; 2) the lowest and second lowest responsive bidders were awarded the contracts for the construction of the pump stations at Met-en-Meer-Zorg and Jimbo, respectively; and 3) Tepui was the third lowest responsive bidder for the construction of the pump station at Belle Vue.
