Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
Guyana agrees to pay Chinese contractor CHEC $297,000 each for urinals in Airport Contract
…can be sourced here for $13,000
The Guyana Government has agreed to pay China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), $297,694 for the supply each of the six urinals to be installed in the expanded Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
A similar urinal is retailed in the capital for prices ranging from $12,000 to $20,000.
Checks at retail outlets revealed that urinals were being sold for $11,995 at National Hardware, $13,148 at Gafsons Industries and $17,900 at Hamson General Store.
The $297,694 that Guyana has agreed to pay CHEC for a urinal excludes VAT and all duties and taxes required to import the items from China.
Under the contract document, the goods, technologies and services to be used are to be purchased from China “preferentially”.
Ram in his Business Page column posits, “In another era before Guyana sold its soul, no government would have dared to give away its rights to say where and from whom it will buy goods and services.”
Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram, in his Business page column this past week, lambasted the current administration over several aspects of the contract that was signed and agreed to.
The contract was signed on November 11, 2011.
A Urinal selling in Georgetown for $13,300 while Govt. will pay $297,000 each for the urinals to be installed under the Airport Contract.
Signing on behalf of the government for the Ministry of Public Works was its Permanent Secretary, Balraj Balram, and Ren Guangjie, General Manager of the Business Development Department of CHEC.
The CJIA contract was one of three controversial Government projects released to the media last year after months of questions.
It was only after the Alliance For Change (AFC) requested information on the projects in the National Assembly that the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) released the documents.
The other two projects were the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Access Road Project, which was awarded to Synergy Holdings Inc. under questionable circumstances and the Marriott Hotel that is currently under construction in Kingston.
Under the CJIA contract, Ram in his analysis pointed out that the $138M loan from the China Development Bank, is in the Chinese currency the Renminbi and all the exchange risks are to be borne by Guyana.
“If the Renminbi appreciates relative to the Guyana dollar, the cost of the loan goes up.”
Ram also points out that the rate of interest is set at 2 per cent, per annum, but the accountant says, “This is a disguise because a management fee of 0.75 per cent is taken out upfront.”
He says too that under the contract inked by Government, no income or withholding taxes apply to any payment under the agreement, whether interest, management fee or commitment fee.
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