There should be no secrets in future Public-Private projects - Goolsarran

There should be no secrets in future Public-Private projects – Goolsarran

Jun 27, 2018 News

Chartered Accountant, Anand Goolsarran

For the time being, the Government of Guyana has been praised by most for moving ahead with plans to construct a Demerara Bridge-crossing at Houston, Georgetown. But all those praises can go down the drain if it fails to be transparent and accountable with the people.
Making this statement recently in his writings was Chartered Accountant and former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran. The columnist noted that the government is using a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model to ensure the success of the project. He noted however, that such arrangements can be very complex, sometimes involving the use of proprietary information, intellectual property and issues of privacy.
Goolsarran commented, “Therefore, an appropriate balance needs to be found to satisfy the needs and expectations of the public. It will be unacceptable for confidentiality clauses to be inserted in any proposed agreement that will prevent the public from having a proper understanding of the project, its cost structure and basis under which the toll fees have been arrived at.”
In spite of his concerns, Goolsarran said that the proposed construction of the new Demerara Bridge-crossing is a welcome development to ease the severe daily traffic congestion on the East Bank Demerara roadway, especially from Diamond to Georgetown. He remarked, “One hopes that the works will be completed in the shortest possible period of time and that the fees to be charged for the bridge-crossing will not be exorbitant.”
Given the Government’s expressed desire to adopt the PPP approach to certain infrastructure development works and service delivery, Goolsarran cautioned, nonetheless, that extreme care needs to be taken not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
One of the most controversial PPP arrangements in the past is the Marriott Hotel. Since talks of its establishment in 2011 to now, the media and other industry stakeholders have been unable to see the full Marriott Hotel contract because of “confidentiality clauses.”
The coalition administration had promised to make the contract public if it got into office, but this is still to materialize.
In the interest of transparency and accountability, Chairman of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), Dr. Maurice Odle had also said that the contract for the controversial Marriott Hotel should be made public. Odle had remarked that too often, the citizenry hears of agreements being made between the Government and private parties, and when there is a call for scrutiny to take place, “the infamous confidentiality clause is invoked.”
The NICIL Chairman added, “And where there is too much in terms of confidentiality clauses it leads to corruption, as in the case of the Marriott Hotel. For the Marriott, too many confidentiality clauses led it into the avenue of corruption. All those different confidentiality clauses they were invoking led to a set of actions which cannot be substantiated.”
Odle emphasized that the more the nature of such agreements are known to the electors and the taxpayers on whose behalf the Government is acting, then the better it will be for the accomplishment of good governance in Guyana.
But when asked to say if he will provide a copy of the Marriott Hotel contract to the media, he declined. He had said, “I am Chairman of NICIL and not Atlantic Holdings Inc. (AHI) which is the Board overseeing the operations of the Marriott…”

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