Late delivery of $800M pumps will be penalized - NDIA

Late delivery of $800M pumps will be penalized – NDIA

Oct 09, 2012 News

Government yesterday said that it is prepared to penalize an Indian company if it is found to be late with the delivery of several large drainage pumps.
Over the weekend, Opposition Parliamentarian, Khemraj Ramjattan said that he is moving to have the National Assembly probe the US$4M contract which was awarded to Surendra Engineering and signed in early 2011.
The pumps should have been here by September month-end.

NDIA’s CEO, Lionel Wordsworth

Ramjattan wondered whether there would be penalties imposed on Surendra for the lateness.
He also said that Surendra does not have a history of assembling pumps yet was awarded the contract.
According to Lionel Wordsworth, Chief Executive Officer of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), an arm of the Ministry of Agriculture, the procurement of drainage pumps was done through an arrangement with the Government of India.
Through the Indian Line of Credit, some 14 drainage pumps would have been procured.
According to NDIA, prior to the awarding of the contract, bid documents were sent through a public procurement process to 28 Indian companies and after evaluation of the respondent companies by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), Surendra Engineering was awarded the contract since it submitted the lowest bid. This contract was awarded in May 2011.
“The entire process of executing this contract was approved by the Export/Import Bank of India from the time of short listing of bidders, awarding of the contract and the execution of the project.”
The statement said that the project period is ongoing. “To date, six of the mobile pumps have been fabricated and are scheduled for factory testing in October before shipment to Guyana.
“The NDIA wishes to indicate that we have indicated to Surendra Engineering that the pumps must only be shipped after the NDIA engineers have physically verified that the pumps have met specifications and only after factory testing where NDIA personnel will be present.”
NDIA also insisted that the contract is being executed in accordance with the contract document which provides for penalties to be applied with regard to contract shortfall.
“Penalties will be applied fully once required.”
Meanwhile, in response to claims to the AFC Leader that Kirloskar, another Indian company which had submitted a bid to supply four fixed pumps at the cost of US$4M, NDIA said that Surendra had submitted its bid for 14 pumps on the same budget of US$4M.
“The contract is still in execution within the revised work programme,” Wordsworth said.
The pumps would be critical to meet medium and long term plans to manage the effects of climate change, which over time has been threatening the country. Each pump will have the capacity of discharging up to 200 cubic metres of water per second. Current pumps have the capacity of 150 cubic metres per second capacity.
Surendra Engineering, in addition to supplying the pumps, was responsible for the provision of technical support and training.
The pumps are earmarked to service an estimated 60,000 acres of land and areas like Windsor Forest, Huntley, Black Bush Polder, and Lima on the Essequibo Coast were identified as sites for their location. The pumps were to be initially delivered since December 2011, and an extension was granted to September 2012.
Together with the assets of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), the country would be boasting a capacity of almost 100 pumps, inclusive of both fixed and mobile, officials of the Agriculture Ministry had said last year. The contract is for the supply of eight fixed pumps with the remaining six being mobile ones.