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$69M renovated NIS office vs three $7M KN homes…Newspaper and govt. exchange Bill of Quantities
– Dr. Luncheon not satisfied with files received from KN
Following a challenge it issued earlier this week, government yesterday released the Engineer’s Estimate for the controversial $69M Corriverton office of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) but essentially snubbed receipts of four homes that Kaieteur News built.
In response to requests of the Office of the President (OP), around 11:00 hrs yesterday, Kaieteur News submitted four files detailing the costs of four homes built earlier this year for staffers. 
OP around 15:30 hrs, sent the Engineer’s Estimate for the reconstructed NIS building to the newspaper.
But a few hours later, Chairman of NIS, Dr. Roger Luncheon, who is also Head of the Presidential Secretariat, stated that the newspaper did not fulfill the request for information.
“The writer has been provided with files containing financial information about the construction of four (4) houses supplied by Kaieteur news. The request (not a demand) for Kaieteur News to supply bills of quantities and estimates is essentially unmet.”
Luncheon contended that Kaieteur News’ submissions “establish the fact that it made no actual comparison of the three $7M buildings that it highlighted and the NIS building”.
“To support this point of sensationalism and opportunism, the Kaieteur News has confirmed it has not been is possession of the bills of quantities and estimates of the NIS building. Essentially Kaieteur News admitted it had no information to criticize other the prices of the construction. The scientific basis for the comparison of the NIS building with their $7M building construction was and remains unstated.”
However, Kaieteur News’ Publisher, Glenn Lall, noted that while three of the homes built for the newspaper’s staff were published, four files were submitted to the Office of the President.
“We have detailed in the files all the monies spent on the homes. While obviously there were not receipts for transportation and sand, these were itemized. All we are saying is if government and NIS are really interested, the costs could be ascertained by browsing through the files.”
The newspaper official made it clear that the issue at hand should not be clouded.
“We are not the ones here that are spending the taxpayers’ money. We are not here to play games. This is serious business that is about the monies belonging to the people of the country. It is the onus of the government to come clean…not to ask us to provide bills of quantities on what we have built.”
The staffers’ homes, estimated to cost between $6-7M each, were used over the past days to question the seemingly high price that government said was spent to renovate the NIS office in Corriverton.
“Instead of three files, we have sent four on each of the homes built. It is as clear as day for anyone to see how much money was spent on each home and what it is for.”
Kaieteur News is currently studying the documents and according to Lall, will be pronouncing on them shortly.
Over the past weekend, this newspaper had raised questions about the cost of the renovated NIS branch.
During his weekly press briefings as Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Luncheon in defending the reconstructed office, accused Kaieteur News of sensationalizing the issue.
The office was commissioned two Mondays ago.
Kaieteur News’ Publisher has also asked for possible images or photographs of what the NIS building looked like before it was renovated.
The NIS office at Corriverton is a one-flat structure.
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