NEW GPC clears the air on its pharmaceutical warehouse
Here are the facts:
Even after its Press Release of August 9th, there are still some misunderstandings on the facts concerning NEW GPC’s pharmaceutical warehouse in the ongoing controversy over the Ministry of Public Health signing a contract for another facility to store pharmaceuticals. This press release is to reiterate and expand on the clarifications offered earlier on the proposed charge for storage made by by NEW GPC to the Ministry of Public Health.
Firstly, it was the Ministry of Public Health that approached the NEW GPC requesting specifically to rent its entire 70,000 sq ft warehouse, which was to be segregated into two equal sections of 35,000 sq ft each. These were to be used to store pharmaceuticals for the GPHC and the Ministry respectively. The price offered by NEW GPC was $237/sq ft. per month. In commercial real estate transactions on rentals charges are quoted in “dollars per square footage” so as to offer prospective clients a basis of comparison.
If the MoPH wanted 10,000 sq ft for storage space from NEW GPC and requested that rather than the 70,000 sq ft it did, it would have cost the government just $2.37M/monthly. However it rented 10,000 sq ft of space from Linden Holdings Inc for $12.5M/monthly which works out to $1250 per sq ft. It was therefore surprising to read
NEW GPC’s state-of-the-art storage facility at Ruimveldt, Georgetown showing air conditioning systems and loading docks
the Govt describing NEW GPC’s quote as “punitive”, when it is less than one-quarter that of the new facility rented.
Secondly, in addition to the basic storage expenses, NEW GPC’s proposed charge included the IT, security, certification and sanitation to comply with WHO/PAHO standards. The facility also has three separate temperature control zones for the storage of temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals in addition to a separate area for the storage of controlled substances.
It also has testing facilities for pharmaceuticals as well as several loading docks to handle the multiple containers that are usual in the government procurement shipment.
If the government has to pay these charges to Linden Holdings in addition to the rental then its effective unit
The Sussex Street bond
charges will be much higher than $1250/sq ft.
The NEW GPC has no desire to become embroiled into what appears to be a political diversion from parliamentary revelations. It simply wants to have the facts as it relates to its business not be misrepresented. For instance yesterday, one section of the media reported that the corporation had “jacked up” it’s rental charges and thus implying that it had been previously charging the government for storage when in fact there were no charges for over a decade.
The minimal charges were now initiated because government scrapped the pre-qualification process that demands at least 30,000 sq ft storage space.
