No sod turning for 12-storey Govt. complex

Jan 12, 2024 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Since the commencement of 2024, the Ali regime has embarked on several “sod-turning ceremonies.” I have yet to see the sod-turning ceremony at the proposed site to construct the twelve (12) storey building for the “office complex.” I guess the Hon. Bishop Juan Edghill, MP and Minister of Public Works, will inform the public, post article.

The Coalition Government conceptualised and designed this project through the Ministry of Public Infrastructure.

My concerns were aroused from reading an article published by DPI, post, Press Conference by Hon. Edghill on the performance of Ministry of Public Works, on January 1, 2024, and captioned, “Construction of gov’t office complex to begin this year.” This recent announcement by Mr. Edghill must be troubling to the Guyanese people.

During the consideration of the 2022 budget estimates, a sum of $2.6B was appropriated for “Mobilisation purposes.” Mr. Edghill was questioned on the expenditure by opposition members Patterson and Ferguson. Mr. Edghill said the building will be “constructed in the Kingston area, where the existing government buildings cater to some 6,000 staffers.” Additionally, he mentioned to the Assembly that the contract was awarded to a company, ‘Caribbean Green Building Inc’. Investigations of the company revealed that it was fairly new – which was registered post-August 2, 2020. and has been awarded a private contract in July 2022 to construct a 172 room four points by Sheraton Hotel, at Houston (New Mandela/ Eccles Road), East Bank Demerara, for US$35M.

Despite poor accountability for this project, money was approved in 2022. The Ministry of Public Works again requested funds in the 2023 budget. Again, Mr. Edghill was questioned, and unable to be forthcoming with a credible response. Unsatisfied with the Hon Minister’s response trajectory, Hon MP Mr. Patterson reminded the Speaker of previous budget approval for the said project under Government buildings: Policy Development and Administration, where the sum expended in 2022 was $2.654 billion. In 2023, $4.045 billion was approved. During the budget presentation, the Hon. Minister said that contracts were awarded for these office complexes. However, he failed to simply state where the complex will be located. Instead, the Hon. Minister said, “Thank you, Sir. To avoid doubt, Sir, the sums quoted by the Hon. Member, the sum in excess of $2.5 billion, was paid to the contractor Caribbean Green Building Inc. as the mobilisation advance for the office towers. The location of this office complex is if he travelled the Mandela/Eccles interlinked road, which is the gazetted name of the road, on the left-hand side in the Houston plot. That is where these buildings will be.”

Further questions regarding the procurement of the land for the construction of this twelve (12) storey office complex, Mr. Edghill stated, “This is a Government project. This is for the development of the state of Guyana. The land acquisitions will be through the competent authority under whose portfolio those lands fall. The Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission, in conjunction with the Ministry of Housing and Water and His Excellency the President, has always been the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, the sole person who can give Government lands. This is Government land for Government buildings. This is not private land we are buying from anybody.”

It is still unclear whether the land for the project was acquired or whether this is another mysterious project that will never come to light due to the latest utterances made by Mr. Edghilll.

Seven billion dollars ($7 B) of taxpayers’ money was appropriated, and a contract was awarded to ‘Caribbean Green Building Inc’ between 2022 and 2023. However, as of January 10, 2024, taxpayers are yet to see a pile being driven for the foundation of the complex, much less the sob-turning.

Nonetheless, Mr. Edghill, at his end-of-year press conference, reported to the nation, “This is a major project. You will have heard us discuss this at Parliament, and provisions have been made. We moved the location to give us a better deal and service.”  Further, he stated that “the building will be constructed about 1 km east of the second roundabout at the new Eccles/Haags Bosch roundabout, on some 20 acres land.” In my humble opinion, this is a lacklustre approach by Mr. Edghill and his team. The constant shifting of this project’s location doesn’t augur well for the principles governing project management.

With limited resources at my disposal, I have been monitoring this project, and I found Mr. Edghill’s premature statement regarding this new location for constructing this twelve (12) storey building to accommodate some 6,000 staffers. The new statement boggled my mind, and I have tabled several questions, in the National Assembly for responses. I guess the answers will be provided at the appropriate time when the Assembly meets.

However, as a representative of the people, I am responsible for informing them of matters of National importance.

This project, in my view, is shrouded in CORRUPTION. Since the latest information provided by Mr. Edghill is useless and unhelpful, I, therefore, call on him to come clean to the people of Guyana by publicly responding to the following queries I have:

1. Has the total of $7B been paid to Caribbean Green Building Inc. for mobilisation, geotechnical studies, and design?
2. If No, what amount of the $7B has been paid to the contractor, Caribbean Green Building Inc., on December 31, 2023?
3. Has any percentage of the $7B returned to the Consolidated Fund as unspent on December 31, 2023?
4. If yes, what was the amount?
5. If No, what has occasioned this?
6. Has the design been completed, and if yes, when will it be made available to the public?
7. When was the contract entered into between the Government of Guyana and Caribbean Green Building Inc.?
8. What is the contract duration?
9. Since monies were appropriated in budget 2022 and 2023 and disbursed to the contractor, “Caribbean Green Building Inc,” why only in 2024 will construction commence, as reported by you on December 30, 2023, at the Ministry’s end-of-year press conference?
10. What are the reasons for moving the construction of this edifice from the second location at Houston, EBD, on 20 acres of land at Haags Bosch, some 1 km from the Eccles roundabout, as reported by you?
11. Can you briefly describe where the 20 acres of land is, including its bordering boundaries?
12. How did the Ministry of Public Works acquire this new 20-acre land?
13. Was there a cost? If yes, kindly provide the cost.
14. Was a geotechnical study and design done for this new location?
15. What is the new estimated project cost for the new location?
16. When in 2024 construction of this facility is likely to commence?

Now that Mr. Edghill is called out to give an account to the people of Guyana, I do hope that he will do so honestly and decently and set aside any political grandeur he may seek to employ in his defence. This is taxpayers’ money, and an account must be given. Budget 2024 will be presented on Monday, 15, 2024. Am I to assume that Mr. Edghill will be seeking an additional sum for this project, which has NOT gone anywhere? I wait to be proven otherwise.

I must express my disappointment in the Auditor General’s Office, whose remit is to flag the very issues raised herein. I guess the 2022 and 2023 reports will highlight these deficiencies.

For the reasons mentioned above, the regime took on itself by using its slim majority to change the quorum for the Public Accounts Committee, causing them not to meet every Monday to interrogate the Auditor General’s report on the government’s expenditure.

Yours sincerely,

Annette Ferguson

Member of Parliament

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• Ali, Annette Ferguson, Bishop Juan Edghill, complex, Member of Parliament

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