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Thursday April 27, 2017
Kaieteur News
City Hall to proceed with parking meter negotiations, consultations …Special team elected
Councillor Oscar Clarke making one of his many points in yesterday’s meeting The Georgetown Mayor and City Council will begin consultations and negotiations with the relevant stakeholders to arrive at a favourable position on the parking meter issue for all Guyanese. This step is in line with the Council implementing Cabinet’s recommendation to conduct consultations with stakeholders and renegotiate the parking meter contract during the three month suspension of the project. The Extra-Ordinary Statutory Meeting began at 14:00Hrs yesterday in the Chambers of City Hall and
lasted three and a half hours. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Georgetown M&CC elected a sub-committee which will carry out Cabinet’s recommendation on behalf of the council. Councillor Malcolm Ferreira was elected Chairman of the seven-member team and Councillor Noelle Chow-Chee was elected Vi c e - C h a i r w o m a n . T h e other members of the committee are Councillors Carlyle Goring, Tricia Richards, Ivelaw Henry, Roopnarine Persaud and Heston Bostwick. The members of the Com-
mittee were all nominated by Councillor and Chairman of the Finance Committee Oscar Clarke following the approval of the Terms of Reference (TOR) which will guide the operations of the Committee. Arriving at a final decision on the TOR absorbed the majority of the meeting. At the onset, Deputy Mayor Lionel Jaikarran commended Mayor Patricia Chase-Green for recusing herself from being a part of the consultation and negotiation process. He further suggested that those councillors who would have acted as additional witnesses to the signing of the
May 2016 contract should also recuse themselves from being a part of the committee. The councillors referred to are Councillors Junior Garrett and Oscar Clarke. When it was time for Council to deliberate on what the TORs should be, Mayor Chase-Green presented a document to the Council which she suggested can be used as a guide to councillors as they decide what should be the TORs. However, from all indications, it was only the Mayor who went to the meeting equipped with TORs to contribute to the process. It was suggested by Deputy Mayor Lionel Jaikarran that Councillors return on another date with their own contributions to the TORs but appoint the committee in the interim. Responding to the suggestion, Town Clerk, Royston King advised the council that
the TORs must be established before the Committee is elected since it will inform councillors when they make their nominations for members. He said that the TOR forms the scope, nature and character of the work to be done by the negotiating team as it relates to the parking meter contract. It was suggested by Councillor and former Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan that the Council reject the TORs suggested by the Mayor since it would be ironic for her to recuse herself from the negotiations but still play a role in deciding how those negotiations should be undertaken. The Town Clerk sought to defend the Mayor’s contribution by saying that the suggested TORs are not imposed on the council. He said that in her capacity as Mayor, Chase-Green has the
right to offer guidance to the Council. Further, he said that it is the Council’s choice whether to take the recommendations as is, subtract, add or reject altogether. Councillor Heston Bostwick then moved a motion for the council to resolve itself into committee for 30 minutes to consider the TORs as prepared by the Mayor before making a decision. This motion was seconded by Councillor Chow-Chee. Following the 30-minute break in discussions, 18 councillors voted to accept the TORs as the final guide for the Committee. After all the procedures were followed, Councillor Oscar Clarke asked for Council’s approval to table at the next meeting of the Finance Committee to discuss a stipend being offered to members of the Committee. This approval was given.
Red flags raised over Govt engineers’ estimates Concerns have been raised over the competence of engineers within the various Government agencies and ministries. A number of letters over the past few weeks from contractors and others, called on Kaieteur News to ‘investigate red flags’ as they relate to bids being submitted by contractors to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). It was contended that all was not right with the Engineer’s Estimates which in many occasions, were way above what contractors were bidding. This was never more evident than last Tuesday, during the opening of tenders for several Government-funded projects, where contractors submitted bids – in some cases, millions of dollars below the Engineer’s Estimate. This was pointed out by a contractor yesterday, who explained that if contractors consistently bid way below the engineer’s estimate, it signals that works can be done at a cheaper cost. It can further be deduced that the engi-
neers’ estimates are not a true reflection of the cost to carry out a project. There have been known cases in the past where the engineers’ estimates were being deliberately ‘inflated’. Another contractor believed that the engineers must be catering for “superior” materials. “Unless they making the engineer’s estimate to cater for superior quality materials, this is obviously utter rubbish because obviously, those materials are not available locally. “The engineers are supposed to be looking out for the state’s interest to ensure that we don’t pay contractors way above (what) we can afford. It creates an impression that these engineers are incompetent or worse yet, corrupt,” the contractor alleged. He added that the “exorbitant” engineer’s estimate makes it difficult for contractors to compete. “The method being used is of course unknown but if the estimate is not close to the real cost then how do we as contractors
bid? How can we be the closest responsive bidder when our estimation of a job is so different from what is being announced?” the contractor queried. These concerns the contractor said, would be brought before the authorities. “We intend to deal with this matter accordingly. It has been going on for years and we thought things would change but it’s the same thing,” The table below illustrates the bid prices submitted for a Ministry of Infrastructure project for geometric improvements of the Railway Line, East Coast Demerara. Several contractors bid in some instances, $10M below the engineer’s estimate. Bidder Amount Gaico Construction and General Services Incorporated $57.2M Eron Lall Civil Engineering Works $57.3M Compustruct Engineering $69.9M BK International Incorporated $56.5M GuyAmerica Construction Incorporated $60.7M Y. Bhola Construction Services $67.6M KP Thomas and Sons Contracting $60.4M B&J Civil Works $68.7M Engineer’s Estimate $70.5M