When the APNU/AFC coalition took office in 2015, they inherited a large number of projects that had been conceptualised, planned and some even funded. These include the modernisation of the CJIA, the East Coast Highway widening, the Ogle-Diamond bypass, the Mandela Ave-Sherriff St widening and a new fixed-span Demerara Harbour Bridge.
But after five years, none of these has been completed and some have not even been launched.
Reference was being made to the more than US$150 million that has been plugged into the repairs to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) – a project that to date is still to be completed.
An artistic impression of the new Demerara Harbour Bridge
Financed in part through a large loan from the Chinese Export-Import (EXIM) Bank, the project which commenced under People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration was dramatically altered by the AFC appointed Minister with responsibility for the sector – David Patterson.
Halting the project when taking office in 2015, the Minister subsequently dramatically reduced the scope of the project for which financing had been secured by the PPP/C and somehow ended up with a smaller project essentially costing Guyanese more money.
The PPP/C while still in office in 2011 signed a fixed-priced contract for US$150 million that committed the contractor China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC) to an airport project that would result in eight gates, new departure and arrival terminals and a 10,800 feet runway catering for jumbo jets and Boeing 747-400 aircrafts
The original model of the CJIA proposed by the PPP
When the Granger-led Administration took office at the 2015 General and Regional Elections, under the ambit of Patterson – at the helm of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure – the contract was changed substantially and eventually resulted in a project for only four gates and a refurbished departure terminal.
The contract price was not revised downwards, meaning Guyanese must now repay for a smaller project at the same US$150 million.
The project itself had been mired in corruption ever since Patterson came into the fold to the point where the Auditor General’s office has taken a special interest in the project and has launched a special audit.
The project under the ambit of the Granger Administration and Patterson, according to experts, was bungled to the point where it was necessary for increased passenger fees to be imposed in order to help offset the costs.
The project was initially supposed to have been completed within 32 months but is still to be completed to date – a parking lot is still to be built in addition to the fact that the airport has had to be shut down in recent occasions owing to lighting and sewerage difficulties
While this project refers to the single largest project by dollar amount – outside of the oil and gas sector – pundits have also pointed to another extremely salacious project that was also undertaken under the hand of Granger and Patterson that led in part to the APNU/AFC dodging the inevitable – General Elections – for as long as possible.
Reference, of course, was being made to the studies that should lead to the construction of a new Demerara River Bridge – a project that has seen Minister Patterson being repeatedly accused of breaking the law and other corrupt behaviours.
The mismanagement of that brouhaha was described as not only inept but one that “also stinks with corruption and clearly exemplifies misconduct in office that unfortunately is the hallmark of this Government”.
The project in 2018 had advanced to the point where the Ministry was in possession of a three-lane design and had announced a construction date having begun the process of shortlisting contractors.
This was after already ignoring the fact that the project had already been advanced during the PPP/C’s tenure at the helm.
During the PPP/C’s time in office, it had commissioned a pre-feasibility study that identified two sites and recommended a four-lane concrete fixed high-rise bridge.
The AFC’s Patterson, with the blessing of the Granger Administration, instead opted to restart the entire process despite the scores of millions already spent at the time.
The Ministry then proceeded to contract consultants, completely ignoring the tendering process to commission another study at a cost of $146 million using the sole sourcing methods – usually reserved for emergencies or in cases where there is only a single supplier.
The Public Procurement Commission had found that in this instance, it was an illegal act on the part of the Ministry.
That report recommended a bridge from Houston, Greater Georgetown on the East Bank Demerara and ending at Versailles, West Bank Demerara, on private property owned by an APNU/AFC donor and activist.
Utterances by the Minister subsequently confirmed that this $146 million would be money lost down the proverbial drain since the Administration was going to ignore that report and was looking to instead have a three-lane bridge constructed.
But it turned out to be much more than $146 million that was lost to that study alone.
The original project was inked between the Ministry of Infrastructure and LievenseCSO but the Government agency had requested Cabinet approval for $161 million.
This meant an additional $15 million was added to the $146 million contract price and a third request for payment eventually saw the project escalating to in excess of $293 million.
The latter payments did not come from the Ministry of Infrastructure’s capital budget as would be set out in the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act but was instead ‘illegally’ diverted from the Bridge’s Asphalt Fund, without approval from the Board.
