“Suspicious termination” of new DHB contract must be explained

“Suspicious termination” of new DHB contract must be explained – Patterson

Feb 12, 2022 News

Former Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson

Kaieteur News – Former Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, is seeking answers for the suspicious termination of the agreement between the government, and China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited (CSCEC) for the construction of the new Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB).
Patterson, by way of a missive issued by the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change Coalition (APNU + AFC), on Friday questioned the termination of the agreement, which government had once touted “no less than favourable” but has now moved to pull the US$256.6 million contract. The administration now finds that the cost of financing would be “too high” as was elucidated by Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, during his interview on February 1, last, with an American Journalist who is attached to Vice News.
According to Patterson, the recent move by the government “raises serious issues of due process, contract evaluation and probity by the administration.” It went on to say that government’s intent to move to the second best bidder for the project was “suspicious and requires a proper, detailed and coherent explanation.”
The former Minister reasoned, “For the country to believe the Vice President now raises questions as to why in November he clearly stated that the financial terms and conditions would be no less favourable than those submitted in the preferred bidder’s price pro.”
As a consequence, Patterson said that the sudden termination does not add up, when one considers the reasoning proffered by the VP. In this regard, he called on engineering and financial advisors to weigh in on what he dubbed a questionable decision.
“Mr. Patterson said the announcement’s proximity to corruption revelations in the recent Vice Media Group interview is also curious and of great concern to the Alliance for Change. It is also no secret there is great suspicion that one of the contracts referenced by the interviewer is the proposed contract with CSCECL (China State Construction Engineering Company Limited), and there is now a strong belief that the two events signal that there was more in the” mortar than the pestle,” the APNU+AFC outlined in the missive.
The statement added that transparency and openness were the only solutions to the conundrum facing the Guyanese who have been aligned to believe that the government’s posture of secrecy fuels speculation about the lack of probity within the PPP Administration.
“He said it was essential to recall that this project was shovel-ready during the APNU+AFC government, but the new PPP government chose to discard all the work and start all over again,” the statement said.
The Chinese company, CSCEC, which was listed as one of the beneficiaries of underhand business with the VP during the interview with the Vice News Journalist, recently had a contract to build the four-lane high span bridge across the Demerara River terminated.
During his interview, Jagdeo speculated, “Maybe the Chinese company that did not get their agreement that they wanted here, maybe they are the ones who told you, or, it could be just a fictitious thing.”
The Chinese company had submitted the lowest bid, to the tune of US$256,638,289 under the Design-Build-Finance (DBF) model. Nonetheless, it was only a few days ago that government concluded the company’s bid was no longer favourable.
During the interview Jagdeo said, “we have just terminated the negotiations with them (CSCEC) because the cost of financing is too high.”
To this end, he signalled that the second lowest bidder would have been engaged. In October last year, tenders were received from four companies for the construction of the new Bridge.
The firms were China Gezhouba Group Company Limited, which submitted two financial proposals of US$387,566,116 and US$491,810,000. China Road and Bridge Corporation in joint venture with Peutes and Calzadas Infrastructuras SLU (China and Spain), which submitted bids of US$340,698,473 and US$364,160,202. China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited which submitted a bid of US$256,638,289. China Railway Construction Corporation International Limited which is in joint venture with China Railway Caribbean Company Limited. China Railway Engineering Bureau Group Company Limited submitted three financial proposals of US$260,852,464, US$260,852,464 and US$300,000,000.

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