-millions spent on repairs, PAC hears

MEMBERS of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), on Monday last, raised their concerns about a new vessel which was procured in 2018 by the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), incurring millions in repair costs and being currently inoperable while several older vessels are in operation.

This came to light as the Committee examined the Auditor General’s 2019 report for the then Ministry of Public Infrastructure which has responsibility for MARAD.

The vessel in question is the ML David P which was acquired in 2018 and recorded as a new vessel according to current Permanent Secretary of the Public Works Ministry, Vladim Persaud.

Highlighted in the report was that the vessel came with a one-year warranty but one month prior to its expiration, the vessel encountered difficulties which resulted in the warranty being extended. It was subsequently docked for rehabilitation.

The report went on to add that as of August 2020, works on the vessel had not yet started. Members of the committee have since questioned whether work was ever done on the vessel.

In response, the Permanent Secretary noted that while some work was done to the vessel, it would be tough to say whether the work in question was completed as additional work had to be done to keep it operational.

This led members of the committee to inquire about the total number of vessels under the control of MARAD. They were told that there are seven vessels under the agency’s control of which only five are currently in an operational state.

Among the two vessels that are inoperable is the ML David P which was acquired in 2018. Persaud told the committee that he was advised that since it was acquired it has been on and off in terms of its usability as a result of constant issues with the vessel.

Meanwhile, committee member Ganesh Mahipaul inquired about the current active vessels and their locations. It was then uncovered that vessels acquired in the 1980s and even as early as 1930 or 1940 are in operation.

Member of Parliament, Dr Vishwa Mahadeo said: “It struck me that the newest vessel that we have is not functional even after nearly $13 million of rehab works done in 2019. Was an investigation launched as to what is the real problem with this vessel?”

In response, the Director General of MARAD, Stephen Thomas said that a formal investigation was not done, however, the department recently hired an experienced marine engineer, which he noted has been lacking. This engineer is currently reviewing the performances of all the inoperable vessels with the aim of making them operational.

Other members of the committee also raised their concerns about the maintenance of ML David P over the years and even asked for the total sum of money spent on repairs to the vessel to be presented to the committee.

In 2022, Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill said that the vessel which was bought in April 2018 under the APNU+AFC administration had never worked to its full capacity.

He referred to the vessel as one that is, “a festering wound in the administration since it has been costing the department huge sums of money to maintain.”