Overpricing or extravagance?

Oct 12, 2010 Editorial

Guyana must be swimming in money. Each day one hears of a contract worth tens of millions of dollars for some projects that appear to be either insignificant or are grossly overpriced. A few months ago, Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, spoke about spending $200 million to construct an abattoir at Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara.
This seems a ridiculously large sum of money for an abattoir that would have a concrete floor, a few cisterns and sinks to allow for running water, hooks to hang the carcasses and perhaps a furnace to provide hot water.
Surely there was no feasibility study and above all, there has been no tender. For Minister Persaud to announce such a figure must cause raised eyebrows. At the same time, should there be a tender, the applicants would know how much money would be at their disposal. Questions would be asked but as is now the norm, there is unlikely to be answers.
This is not the first example of what appears to be reckless pricing of projects. There were contracts for pumps in the pure water system. Checks with the international suppliers suggested that the pumps were overpriced. The contractors were often at pains to suggest that the specifications quoted were what caused the astronomical hike in the final price.
Persistent questioning has led to legal suits and to injunctions restraining the newspaper from questioning any further aspect of the project. It has been the same with other projects, among them the construction of bridges, culverts and feeder roads. Many of these appear to be constructed at very high prices.
From time to time we have been able to solicit comments about the high prices. We were once told that Guyana is a country with not many organisations capable of undertaking certain projects. This in itself can be a costly matter, with people demanding all manner of high prices.
Then there are those who complain that they have to charge rates to allow them to complete the project, make a profit and grease the palms of certain officials who demand a fee before they even seek to award the contract. Perhaps this is where the problem lies. But no one is prepared to publicly accuse the officials. They all claim that they fear victimisation and being debarred from future bids.
Those who have been long in the system may actually get inside information and are therefore allowed to bid as close as possible to the engineer’s estimate. But the estimate is a guide and one must also wonder whether the engineer deliberately pads certain contracts. We cannot question the engineer because he has no obligation to answer any question posed by the media.
This past week, there were reports that a contractor would be paid $80 million to construct a bridge at Parfait Harmonie. Kaieteur News had cause to place this bridge under the spotlight because of the standard of the work that had been done to the previous structure. Unless the contract is for a new bridge then one would find the cost prohibitive.
Earlier this year, during an examination of some of the country’s developmental works that appeared to be similarly high priced. Minister Persaud organised a media tour in the wake of persistent questioning. Sad to say, after visits to two projects he abandoned the media. There were no further explanations and to this day no one can say that the projects were worth the monies provided by Central Government.
Perhaps there is the view that Central Government is a cash cow to be exploited. We are aware that contractors undertook projects, executed shoddy work and left after being paid. The government then had to revisit the contract and do the work all over again, at an even higher cost.
President Bharrat Jagdeo once said that there are crooks in the system but that he is finding it difficult to get a handle on them since the information is often not forthcoming. Indeed, some contractors have been blacklisted, but with this being Guyana, there is nothing to stop them from forming another company with a dummy head. This has happened in the past and will happen again.
Yet we crave answers to our queries. There is as yet no Freedom of Information legislation but our leaders should at least present an honest face in the interest of the public. Explain those exorbitant expenditures.

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