PPC flags issues with Belle Vue Pump Station contract

…Finance Minister welcomes report, assures corrective action will be taken

The Public Procurement Commission (PPC) has flagged several issues regarding the award of a multimillion-dollar contract to a new company owned by a social media personality but Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh says the findings are a testament to the government’s efforts at procurement transparency and accountability.

In a statement on Tuesday night, the finance minister welcomed the PPC’s report on the Belle Vue Pump Station. The contract for this project, costing $865 million, was awarded in August of last year to the Tepui Group, whose principal is Mikhail Rodrigues- popularly known as the Guyanese Critic.
The investigation was launched by the Commission after an official complaint was lodged by Opposition Member of Parliament David Patterson, who is also a member of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC). According to the finance minister, the Commission’s findings and subsequent report is testament to the government’s efforts to reform the procurement system and make it more transparent.
“The completion of this report by the Public Procurement Commission, is evidence that the institutions that we have worked for so many years to establish, are in fact operating and functioning and are discharging their extremely important mandates,’ Dr. Singh said.
“It would be recalled that the entire architecture requiring open, competitive public procurement, was established during the previous PPP/C government, when we, along with our other partners in parliament, legislated a number of amendments to our constitution which were brought into our constitution in 2001, which included provision for the establishment of a Public Procurement Commission.”
Singh also committed that the government would act on the recommendations in the report. These recommendations included legislative changes. Other issues flagged by the PPC related to the company’s lack of experience; having only been registered in 2022; its absence of a bank line of credit; and its failure to submit an audited financial statement.
The company also fell short of its bid security requirement. However, the Commission said it could not do anything about the situation since the contract was already signed. Nevertheless, it advised the project be strictly monitored for performance and if the contractor is found in breach, that the necessary steps, including termination, be taken.
“A quick perusal of the report suggests that it makes a number of observations which we consider extremely important. And it makes a number of recommendations that we consider very useful. And I wish to assure the Guyanese public that these recommendations will engage careful study by our government and by the respective agencies of our government.”
“And where appropriate, will certainly inform future reforms and future actions to be taken, including corrective actions in a number of areas where, for example, observations were made regarding consistency between bidding documents and instructions to bidders, etc.” Dr. Singh also said.
Meanwhile, the finance minister also acknowledged that the government’s aggressive development agenda may overstretch the traditional, local contractors. Dr. Singh added that one of the government’s objectives is to grow the local construction industry, so that it can better bear the brunt of the development push.
Last year, Belle Vue was one of the projects included in the Ministry of Agriculture’s invitation for bids to construct pump stations across the country. These tenders, totaling in excess of $2.7 billion, were issued in an effort to further alleviate flooding in the countrywide.
Tepui Group Incorporated was also previously contracted to construct a US$5 million concrete production facility for Mohamed’s Enterprise. Upon completion, the facility would have produced concrete pre-stressed piles with a length of up to 160 feet, and slabs for bridges and utility poles, besides offering a wide variety of construction services with its state-of-the-art equipment. (G3)