AG 2023 Report: Effects from APNU/AFC botched purchase of US$2M in pumps still being felt

– PPP/C Govt working to resolve issue, in talks with Indian contractor

The current People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government inherited several botched projects and contracts from its predecessor, A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC). One such project was the blundered procurement of 12 pumps, the effects of which are still being grappled with by the current Government to this day.
The former Government had purchased these pumps, through an Indian Export Import (EXIM) bank loan signed by then Finance Minister Winston Jordan in 2017, from Indian company Apollo International.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture in a statement on the fiasco, the contractor breached the contract, not only by delivering the pumps outside of the 12-month window but by delivering the wrong pumps. This was despite then Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder claiming that the pumps were the right engines for the job.
“The coalition had boasted (the pumps would) reduce the risks of flooding in low-lying areas across the country and bring relief to residents and farmers. On September 3, 2018, the coalition began procuring the engines by signing a deal of US$3.6 million with Apollo International for the supply and installation of the 12 drainage pumps.”

“The engines were to be delivered within 12 months, but that never happened. The wrong engines arrived in March 2020, during the election fiasco. Over US$2.3 million were already paid to Apollo,” the Ministry explained.
According to the Ministry, it made a second payment of US$501,000 in 2021 to have the engines installed at various locations across the country. These locations included Hampton Court, Devonshire Castle, Den Amstel, Hope, Nootenzuil, Mora Point and Rose Hall, where the fixed pumps were installed, and Church Street, Sussex Street, and Ruimveldt South where the mobile pumps were put in place.
According to the Auditor General’s report, “Ten of the twelve engines supplied were determined to be undersized and incapable of running the pumps on a long-term basis and the Government requested that the contractor replaced the ten engines.”
The Ministry explained that once they found out that the wrong engines had been purchased, a decision was taken to withhold the balance of the payments. Currently, the PPP/C Government is in negotiations with the Indian company to resolve the matter.
“After finding out that APNU+AFC had purchased the wrong engines, the current Government withheld the balance payment. The remaining balance was to be used to replace the wrong engines and fix the ones installed. The new Government is in negotiations with the Indian Company to have the matter settled. Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha had said that the purchase of the wrong engines was a “blunder by APNU+AFC.”
It was reported in January that the current (PPP/C) Government is continuing its efforts to recoup the loss incurred by the former Government by purchasing the defective pumps.
Speaking during his end-of-year press conference, Agriculture Minister Mustapha revealed that the pumps which were procured by the former APNU/AFC Government in 2018 are still in the system, albeit defective.
“I took over a sector that the then Government would have purchased 12 pumps, with a line of credit from India, for US$2 million. Those pumps are still in the system, defective and we are still trying to recoup our money or get proper pumps that can satisfy the specifications and requirements,” Mustapha had said.
“Today those pumps are still defective and we are actively working to see how we can rectify that situation. They have paid about 75 per cent of the cost, the previous Government. When I came in and we discovered that the pumps were not suitable, the pump size and engine was small, I put a stop to the payments and we were working to see how we can get these pumps replaced.”
According to Mustapha, Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, was aiding his Ministry in either getting the pump engines replaced or recouping the losses from the pump. According to the agriculture minister, they have also been working with the Indian High Commission to engage the company the pumps were procured from.