Dear Editor,
IT was with utmost shock and astonishment for us to read the two headline news carried by Kaieteur News on May 27 & 29 respectively, attacking our company- China National Machinery Import & Export Corporation (CMC) for poor performance with respect to GPL’s Infrastructure Development Project, or GPL’s US$42M transmission line contract as referred to by Kaieteur News.It is obvious that Kaieteur News has now initiated a campaign to smear and tarnish our company’s reputation through sensational reporting and gutter journalism. Though the titles do not match with the content, it has already created a bad name for our company in Guyana, as what were left in the readers’ minds are the sensational titles, not the actual details which would be complicated and boring to most readers. The message that Kaieteur News was trying to portray to the general public is that CMC is a totally incompetent and unqualified contractor and therefore unfit to undertake the job, hence it would be dead wrong to award CMC with another major power project in Guyana (see Dem boys Seh of May 29 ‘Chinese Spare parts dealer get big contract’).
These vicious attacks on our company are brutal and ruthless with the sole purpose of defamation and character assassination. As a consequence, we now seek your kind assistance to be given an opportunity to respond to some of the irresponsible and blatant lies contained in the Kaieteur News column.
1. ‘Delays cost Guyana US$9M more – engineers question equipment’ (News of May 27 )
‘Delays cost Guyana US$9M more’, logically the report should have explained the nature of this US$9M additional costs, the correlation between the additional costs and delay, and why the contractor should be responsible for the delay. However, this was not the case.
For the additional US$9M costs it simply implied that ‘it went over budget by more than US$9M (1.8B)’ without providing the reasons for the time and cost overruns. As for the length of delay, the report states as ‘almost two years’ (‘It was commissioned in December 2014, almost two years over the deadline’), which implies that the contractor should be blamed for this lengthy delay to bring the project to fruition. This is totally untrue. The contract came into force on May 1, 2010 with 912 days for time of completion. Due to the substantial time spent to finalise the changes to the original scope of contract in 2011, both parties (CMC & GPL) agreed to extend the time for completion for another 180 days, which brought the date of completion to September 6, 2013. Due to the extreme difficulties encountered in the procurement of suitable wallaba poles specified by GPL in Guyana and other challenges faced by the contractor, CMC was granted three (3) extensions until August 31, 2014, by which time all the substations and transmission lines had been commissioned and put into operation. The decision to source poles from the USA was approved by GPL.
As for the quality of equipment, the consultants merely expressed their concerns in their letters dispatched in 2011 & 2012. Concerns do not translate into facts. We wish to categorically state that we procured equipment from reputable suppliers who have a proven track record in supplying their products both in China and in the international market in order to ensure maximum quality assurance and reliability standards.
2. ‘Chinese spare parts trader awarded US$42M transmission line contract’ (News of May 29)
This title reflects both ignorance and/or deceitfulness of the tabloid reporter who penned the reports. Given that Kaieteur News boasts of its investigative reporting capability, it could have easily obtained information about our company’s operation by surfing the internet. Regrettably, it chose speculative and selective reporting, rather than checking on the facts.
As recently as Feb. 6, 2016, the Euro 1.9 billion 926 km Tehran – Mashhad Railway Electrification Project was formally launched by H.E. President Hassan Rouhani. This project is being undertaken by a consortium of three companies, of which CMC is the leading company. And back in October 2015, the Power Magazine of the United States presented the 2015 TOP PLANT AWARD to the US$1.6 Billion Manjung 1X1000MW Coal-fired Power Plant Project, which was jointly undertaken by CMC and Alstom (Energy Business now sold to GE). This is also the first 1000MW power plant project implemented by a Chinese company in a foreign country.
Since 2004, CMC has continuously ranked among the world’s largest 225 international contractors by the renowned Engineering News-Record (ENR) of the United States until 2010, after which ENR only listed CMC’s parent company “Genertec Group”. As for Genertec Group, it was ranked at 469 by Fortune 500 in 2014 for its business turnover of US$25.7 Billion; and it was elevated to 426 by Fortune 500 in 2015 for its business turnover of US$27.6 Billion. CMC is one of the core companies of Genertec Group, with average annual business turnover at US$2.5 Billion.
CMC is a major state-owned company in China with undertaking international EPC contracts as one of its major business components. Our company has maintained this name since it was founded in 1951, even though the business scope has greatly expanded over the years, and machinery import and export trade business only counts for a small portion of our business turnover. It is simply unimaginable and ridiculous to paint CMC as a small company trading on spare parts as its main business portfolio.
3. Facts about the project
The first three substations (Kingston Expansion, Vreed-en-Hoop, Edinburgh at WCD) and transmission lines linking these substations (including the submarine cable between Kingston and Vreed-en-Hoop) were commissioned in December 2012. These substations have been in smooth operation for almost four (4) years now, and no major incident(s) has ever been communicated to us by the employer.
Subsequently, seven (7) more substations (Sophia Expansion, New Sophia, Good Hope, Columbia, Onverwagt Expansion, New Georgetown, Golden Grove) and corresponding transmission lines were put into operation. Except for incidents reported for the 13.8kV ABB Switchgear at Onverwagt Substations, no major issue(s) has ever been raised by the employer for the above-stated seven (7) substations. We consider that all the objectives set for the project have been achieved. And this achievement came through the joint efforts made by all three parties, the employer, the contractor and the consultant.
4. Kaieteur News’ Obvious Agenda
During the construction period of the power transmission project, we could not recall any negative publication about our company by this tabloid. On May 26, 2016, Kaieteur News carried a report about the bid evaluation of the power distribution project, and listed our company as one of the five (5) bidders.
The very next day, May 27, Kaieteur News launched a vicious and ferocious attack on our company. And in the ‘Dem boys seh’ column of May 29, it says ‘And dem boys hear that another big contract is in de making fur him.’ So it is clear our company may have been chosen as the preferred bidder for the power distribution project after bid evaluation and approval including that of the funding agency IDB, and Kaieteur News is now trying to change the course of contract award by staging character assassination on our company. If our guess is correct, then it is a total disrespect from Kaieteur News, not only towards our company, but also towards our partners (including meter and transformer suppliers from the United States; local construction company in Guyana, etc.) who have put so much effort into preparing bid documents for this project.
And if indeed there is a change of outcome for the tendering process of the power distribution project due to the distorted reports carried by Kaieteur News, then it would be a sad outcome for Guyana, as contract award for the country’s major development project is no longer made through a fair bid evaluation process, rather be directed by a vindictive media house who has no hesitations in resorting to mischiefs and deceits in order to achieve its agenda.
In conclusion, we wish to take this opportunity to request Kaieteur News to respect the basic ethics of news reporting and observe all applicable codes of conduct. Defamation should not be an acceptable practice to a media house. We may have used some harsh words in this letter which should forbid. In all fairness we would expect Kaieteur News to be righteous in its reporting, considering it is the most widely circulated newspaper in Guyana, and it has an obligation of truthfulness to its faithful readers, even though this may be wishful thinking on our side.
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Jin
Project Director, CMC