— Auditor General confirms

By Rehana Ahamad

CONTRACTORS responsible for the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, were overpaid by a whopping $75M. This confirmation was given by Guyana’s Auditor General (AG), Deodat Sharma, on Thursday, shortly after handing over his 2019 audit report to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir.
Sharma told reporters that the findings of a probe into the hospital were compiled into a report and submitted to the Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony and the Permanent Secretary, Malcolm Watkins. The Auditor General declined to give specifics of the report, noting that he is still to receive a response from Ministry’s officials.
Dr Anthony had told the National Assembly back in September that the former APNU+AFC Coalition Government had overpaid one contractor by at least $70M. The minister highlighted too that another contractor was also given an advance payment of $14.7M to install an elevator, which had not been installed. Issues were also highlighted with regard to the manner in which the eight contractors were hired.

The $1.6B hospital, once known as the Ocean View International Hotel, was rehabilitated and converted into a medical facility capable of accommodating patients with COVID-19, and other infectious diseases. It was commissioned on July 30, 2020, by then President, David Granger. However, it could not become operational, due to a number of inadequacies that were later identified by the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) which assumed office in August 2020, following the protracted March 2, General and Regional Elections.
Public Works Minister, Juan Edghill, later announced that, due to “the poor planning that went into the conceptualisation of the facility,” the Government was “forced” to spend an additional $790 million to make it fully operational. Edghill noted that even though the facility was “beautifully painted”, it lacked basic amenities required to handle infectious diseases such as the novel corona virus.

Those issues, he said, were related to plumbing and electrical deficiencies, things which will be addressed through the use of the additional funding. Poor ventilation and the presence of mold in the building were also highlighted. As the project was put under a microscope, even more troubling inefficiencies surfaced. In addition to the physical shortfalls, eyebrows were also raised with regard to the deal between the former Government and the owner of the former hotel, Jacob Rambarran.
Rambarran, after the change of Government on August 2, 2020, had issued a demand for G$65 million in rent for the past five months, in keeping with a lease, as he claimed that the gazetted order for compulsory acquisition has no force. He asked the Government to vacate the building if it would not pay the rent of $13 million per month.
In expressing his disgust over the situation, Vice-President, Bharrat Jagdeo, noted that “The individual, who claims he owns the land, stayed quiet while the media was questioning the project, and suddenly he sent a lawyer’s letter to be paid millions.”

“He will have a long wait because a lot of irregularities and illegalities took place through this deal, and those will be fully investigated,” said Jagdeo.
As the Government was preparing to launch an investigation into the project, information had surfaced that the land might have been in receivership, so Rambarran did not own it.
“How can you demand payment and you do not have a formal lease agreement… there are lots of things that do not meet the eye… it is looking like an incestuous arrangement, so they would have to answer a lot of questions,” said Jagdeo.
The concept of a specially designed COVID-19 facility was put to Government by the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) after a study had found that Guyana could have had as many as 20,000 COVID-19 cases in a month.