…Ramotar had allegedly assured Fedders-Lloyd of contract

By Ravin Singh
DAMNING revelations which surfaced last evening suggest that the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) while in office earlier this year, was considering Fedders-Lloyd as the next suitable company to undertake the Specialty Hospital project which folded temporarily after acts of irregularities were discovered.

Speaking exclusively with the Guyana Chronicle last evening, the multi-million dollar company’s representative, Ajay Jha revealed that the company, after losing the initial bid to Surendra Engineering Company Limited was in constant contact with the PPP Government after Surendra Engineering left late last year.

Former President, Donald Ramotar has since described Jha’s claims as “absolute nonsense” although saying that he first must see what they have to say before issuing an official comment to the press.

In 2012, Surendra was awarded the multi-million-dollar contract to design and build the hospital at Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown. However, the agreement between the two was prematurely terminated subsequent to discoveries of alleged failure to account for public funds and alleged engagement in fraud by the contracting company. With India providing a US$18M million line of credit to construct the facility, Surendra had drawn US$3,636,000 as a mobilisation advance.
And while in opposition during the life of the 10th Parliament, the APNU and AFC had criticised the PPP administration for shortcomings in the agreement including their failure to provide enough information on how the Guyanese people were to benefit by it. The sum of $1.25B was also set aside for the hospital in the 2013 Budget, but was axed by the then opposition. Some $34.4M was allocated to the hospital as part of a supplementary budget.
But following the termination of the contract, the PPP was subsequently voted out of office and the project was stalled. With justification, the coalition government resuscitated the initiative, and inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Fedders-Lloyd which will see the completion of the project by the company which boasts the construction of over 9000 hospitals globally.
But this move was not one which was welcomed by the PPP. In fact, Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo at a press conference on November 28, 2015 deemed the agreement a “massive act of corruption” since, according to him, Fedders-Lloyd was disqualified from the bidding process. “They [government] have a duty to release the evaluation report done by the last government…That report will show that this company was disqualified so it was not the second-ranked company, it was disqualified,” Jagdeo stated.
But in a twist of events, Jha is maintaining that he had met with several members of the then PPP government including then President Donald Ramotar and Attorney General Anil Nandlall to discuss Fedders-Lloyd being awarded the contract. “During Pravashi Diwas on 8-9th Jan 2015 at Ahmedabad in India, ex-President was Chief Guest and we had a detailed discussion about the [Specialty] Hospital Project there. I also met with the ex-Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall about 10 times and he gave me assurance that Fedders-Lloyd would get the contract,” he added.
The company’s representative also provided photographs of himself and Ramotar at the function where he said the two had extensive discussion on the future of the project. In addition, he supported this with signed documents which were sent and received by several ministries indicating the company’s willingness to complete the hospital despite its controversial history. Jha told the Guyana Chronicle that Nandlall had requested of him to submit in writing that the company was ready to undertake the project in the given state. His optimism mounted even more when the assurance of Fedders Lloyd being given the contract was given by Nandlall. He then dispatched the letters which were all signed and received by the Office of the President, office of the Attorney General, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Health.
However, according to Jha, the engagements between the company and the PPP was put on hold after April 24, due to the May 11 General and Regional elections which were approaching. As it relates to Fedders-Lloyd being disqualified from the bidding process, Jha immediately refuted this, arguing that the companies disqualified were the Vedhehi Group which submitted no form of documentation and Jaguar Overseas which submitted its documents electronically; via a CD. As such, the two remaining companies, Surendra Engineering Company Limited and Fedders-Lloyd were the only two legitimate bidders in the process.
Jagdeo’s contention too, that the absence of a technical team to evaluate the work done on the hospital exposes the risk of financial improprieties was dismissed as the company representative revealed that they are currently working with a residual amount of US$14M to complete the hospital. This amount, he said, cannot be altered, and as such, “if US$10,000 or US$10M was spent, we will only get the residual amount.” In dismissing this “nonsensical claim” by the former President, Jha further revealed that the project site currently has 1509 driven piles, one office and a few trucks of sand, which leaves much to be desired of the project.