Duty free concessions to contractor halted – Minister Edghill

Aug 20, 2020 News

US$150M CJIA renovation…

– “long overdue” project must be completed swiftly

By Shikema Dey

Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill

The many duty free concessions enjoyed by the Chinese contractor, China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), hired to complete the US$150M Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) expansion project have been halted. The concessions were halted by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) because the contractor has failed to meet the contract obligations.
Public Works Minister, Juan Edghill, at a media briefing yesterday said that he recently engaged the Commissioner General of GRA, Godfrey Statia, who stopped the concessions.
Edghill said, “The contractor has performed so badly that the GRA had stopped granting concessions, which is duty free concessions to the contractor to bring goods into the country.” He added that the possibility of garnishment is being explored due to the taxes owed to the agency.
“I’m going to be very strong and straight with this,” the Minister said, adding that “this project has gone wrong. The contractor has not fulfilled his obligations.”
Compounding this, he laid blame on the previous David Granger-led administration which he said failed to provide the necessary policy guidelines to the technical people to ensure complete compliance with the contract.
The CJIA expansion project is one that has been planned for years but due to substandard works, delays and controversy, the project has not come to finality.
The contract was signed in 2011 under then President Bharrat Jagdeo, and then passed through the short presidency of Donald Ramotar and then on to the previous Granger administration.
When Granger’s administration took over in 2015, it claimed that the plan was in need of adjustments. Then Public Infrastructure Minister, David Patterson, had said that only seven percent of the work was completed, with claims for US$90M equating to more than half of the contract sum. He laid the blame on the PPP/C’s management of the project.
But the adjustments made were kept hidden from the public for several years and were only revealed after consistent reports by this newspaper of several red flags related to the project.
Added to that, then Junior Infrastructure Minister, Jaipaul Sharma, had said while different aspects of the construction works were completed, several issues pertaining to quality of materials and work required dire attention.
Those issues and more are listed among the reasons why the project has been delayed for years.
Now it is back with the new Irfaan Ali-led People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) administration which to date is unable to gauge a final completion date. The project should have ended since December 31, 2018.
Making reference to this, Minister Edghill said, “concerning when they would finish, they should have finished since the 31st of December, 2018 and I am in no mood for extending timelines.”
He added that they are currently in a 700 day liquidated damages period and insisted that government is only concerned with completing the project with alacrity since it has been long overdue.
Further, he said that the new administration will be accepting no excuses in its quest to ensure that there is proper management of the project.
At an appropriate time, he continued, when all players have been engaged, a new work plan would be made public.
It was only in early July of this year that the CJIA sought bids for additional works to be completed. This was despite the contract being in place, which was expected to be enough to transform the port into a regional transit hub.
Invitations for bids advertised in the daily newspapers indicate that the airport needs a new fence for its public car park and an access control security hut. These intended projects, which stand outside of the US$150M contract, are not alone.
There are also plans for a new parking lot valued at GYD$122M, a cargo facility, a commercial centre, an office area and a parking lot, all advertised last year. Jagdeo, in his capacity as PPP General Secretary, in early 2019 had stated that the exclusion of so many projects from the initial blueprint was due to the government wanting to leave room for local contractors to benefit. A similar claim was made late last year during the advertisement of some of these projects by APNU+AFC Minister, Jaipaul Sharma.
However, arguments were presented that the projects should never have been left out in the first place, as numerous contractors relayed to Kaieteur News that the amount and quality of work being done to renovate the port since it began could have been done for US$5M – 30 times less than the whopping sum taxpayers are expected to foot.