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Brian Tiwarie sets Ramotar straight on Surendra steel
BK Managing Director, Brian Tiwarie
Former President, Donald Ramotar
Managing Director of BK Group of Companies, Brian Tiwarie has debunked allegations by former President Donald Ramotar that his company was awarded $800M in Specialty Hospital steel.
In the June 30 issue of a daily newspaper, Ramotar, said that the coalition administration needs to explain why some $800M of steel and other equipment earmarked for the specialty hospital project went solely to Brian Tiwarie.
The issue surrounds eight containers of steel that the Ramotar administration took possession of after Surendra Engineering was dropped from the project.
Tiwarie made it clear that the containers were taken to an auction and bought by an individual and not BK International. He said that the accusations being made by the former Head of State show that he was incompetent in dealing with the issue while he was in office.
The Managing Director of BK International explained that “mere” steel rods were in the containers and not expensive steel frames as told to the Government.
“To refresh former President Ramotar on this issue, if he had researched it properly, he would have seen that the estimated cost of the cargo in the containers was approximately US$153,000 and that is consistent with the contents in the container.”
According to the Managing Director, the former government failed to do elementary homework as to the contents being shipped and also to monitor the expenses based on the massive amounts for mobilization that were paid to Surendra Engineering.
“Ultimately, it would serve this nation well if a performance audit was to be conducted into the presidency of Donald Ramotar. Let the facts and the findings speak for themselves”, he noted.
BK International, Tiwarie stated, was subcontracted to do foundation work and had expended enormous amounts to do piling works and stock materials on site. But proper supervision and monitoring of the project was lacking by the government. Tiwarie stressed that huge sums of money were paid over to Surendra and the company was allowed to walk away.
He said that Surendra Engineering owes BK International $400M for foundation work done on the specialty hospital. Tiwarie added that BK International filed legal proceedings against Surendra Engineering in Guyana and courts in India.
Tiwarie added that BK was granted judgment against Surendra Engineering by the High Court in Guyana after the company conceded that it owed BK the sum claimed.
He said that the Donald Ramotar Cabinet on advice of then Attorney General, Anil Nandlall disregarded court decisions and allowed the Managing Director of Surendra Engineering to leave Guyana even after a court order prevented him from doing so until he had honoured judgment granted to BK International.
However, Tiwarie pointed out that while some contend that BK was a favoured contractor under the PPP, records will show that all contracts awarded to the company were done after fair bidding process.
He stated, “There were some instances where BK was unjustifiably denied contracts even though we were the most competitive bidder. There were numerous occasions when BK had to challenge these injustices through the courts in Guyana.”
Tiwarie continued, “The records will therefore show that BK was no favoured contractor in the PPP regime. The records will also show that BK International was the first local company to qualify itself with the appropriate equipment, infrastructure, engineers and personnel which allowed us to bid and receive contracts for projects under the International Development Bank (IDB), European Union (EU), Caribbean Development and Word Banks among others.”
In the meantime, he is urging Ramotar to get his facts correct when making derogatory statements against a company like BK. He added that BK will continue to provide support and growth to this nation while continuing to provide employment for Guyanese for the betterment of themselves and their families.
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