In recent weeks reports suggest that the government has been revisiting and reviewing several projects that were either stalled or bungled under the previous regime. There have been mixed reactions to this development.The more recent is the re-negotiation of the deal for the construction of a specialty hospital, styled an institution for health tourism. The original contract was awarded to Surendra Engineering for building and equipping the facility, which is being financed through a Line of Credit (LOC) to the tune of over US$18 million from the EXIM Bank of India. Surendra defaulted after misusing just under $US 1 million, for which judgment in our High Court was awarded. Cynically put, Surendra only graded the site and piled dirt and grass on 12 heaps, referred to in the National Assembly as “The Dirty Dozen,” and drove down couple dozen piles.
The former PPP government has been embarrassed by the fiasco, especially when charges had been levelled that the contract processes lacked procedural fairness. It was the leader of the AFC, Mr Khemraj Ramjattan, (now Vice-President and Minister of Public Security) who had exposed that the higher-ranking bidder for the specialty contract, Fedders Lloyd, a reputable construction company, was ignored.
Mr Ramjattan had also stated that he was merely exposing the corruption surrounding the contract to Surendra and that he was not the lawyer for Fedders Lloyd.
Now after re-negotiation, Guyana seems set for a better deal which is tantamount to getting a better bang for our buck: (a) new contractor, Fedders Lloyd which was supposed to have the job in the first place had there been a fair bidding; (b) continuation of the project under the original LOC; and funding for modernising our three major hospitals in Suddie, Bartica and Best Village.
It cannot now be said that this is the Specialty Hospital that was originally conceived, since it has now been stripped of the cloak of crookedness with which it was tainted. Of course, the handlers of Surendra would cry foul and would be upset that the new government has placed the $US18 million project in a safer basket.
Recently also, government announced that Norway has indicated an interest to get the IDB to review the Amaila Falls Hydro Project to determine whether it is viable or non-viable. The government can see nothing wrong with this request as Norway has some $US80 million to put into Amaila and should it fail to answer the bell, this money could be tapped for other hydro and renewable energy projects. The new government has shortlisted five other sites that could be developed as mega hydro projects and Norway’s involvement is critical as a source of initial funding.
We are also upbeat that the review of the Cheddi Jagan Airport has resulted in revival of work on lengthening the runway and renovating the terminal building. We hope also that new life would be breathed into the East Coast and East Bank Demerara highways and that the bottlenecks being caused by these bungled projects could be removed soonest.
In all, the stage is being set to re-position the “old” projects, and make them work for Guyana. At the same time, it clears the way for introduction of new transformational projects that were mooted by the Finance and Infrastructure Ministers, such as new hydro schemes, solar and wind farms, a new bridge over the Demerara River, deep water and free port harbours and new agricultural schemes linked to the Del Conte road.