US$155M Airport expansion project… Defective work will see US$20M increase – Harmon

APNU MP Joseph Harmon

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Shadow Minister of Public Works and Transportation, Joseph Harmon, is contending that more monies will have to be expended on the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) expansion project.

He says that the geotechnical work for expanding the runway was not properly done and it is expected to cost another $20M, thus driving the US$155M cost of the project up to US$175M.

Harmon explained the “geotechnical work” to mean that “they have to dig off what is called muck off of the top surface and then to get to a certain level where you have to pack it with sand to make it possible for the plane runway to be extended”.

He said that testing that was done with the soil and it was inadequate, “so when they actually now have to extend the runway you find that the work that has to be done would have to be multiplied.”

“If for example the original estimate was for let us say five feet of muck to be cleared off and impacted with sand, you would have to now do about 20 feet of it, so you would have a large amount of humus that has to be cleared off and then you have to pack that now with sand.

“If the work was done properly; if there was a proper survey done, they would’ve discovered these things before they actually went into signing a contract, and so these are the problems we have with the government contract.”

“They do not do proper due diligence and so you have this rushing into contracts and only to discover after the contract is signed and you have binding obligations, that the price of the things have increased, and we have a problem with that.”

UNAPPROVED SPENDING

Harmon described as “chaotic”, the situation where monies were allocated for the expansion of the CJIA by the Finance Minister through the expended $4.5B of the $30B which was disapproved by the combined opposition in the 2014 budget.

He said that the sum of $4.5B, which includes an amount for CJIA expansion, “is more than contempt for the National Assembly, it also demonstrates the disrespect which the Government has for ordinary people, in particular the residents of Timehri North who will be displaced to facilitate the expansion of the Airport”.

He said that among other concerns, APNU had certain preconditions, one being the livelihood of those residents.

He pointed out that their displacement would obviously have a cost attached.

“I am not sure that cost is factored into the cost of this project, so even when they are talking about the 155 million US dollars, I don’t think that factors in the social and economic conditions that exist around that area, and which is a requirement set up by places like the World Bank and the IDB for relocation of citizens,” Harmon asserted.

“Where you have major projects like this, in which the set standards are established, the people, once they are removed from where they are, must enjoy conditions no less favourable than that which they enjoy presently. This condition even goes for squatters; this is why the international standards are for persons who are squatting. There is a human element of these contracts that actually comes out.”

GROSSLY OVERPRICED

The issue of grossly overpriced toilet bowls was one of the hotly debated topics. In defending the contract price, the Ministry of Public Works had said that the stated costs of the bowls included the costs of the sewer lines, cubicle doors and other materials.

The Finance Minister when questioned recently on the issue said that he is not going back to the cost of the toilet bowls, since according to him, that issue was addressed already. But Harmon is of a different opinion.

“It was never dealt with and they could never deal with it, because it is the way in which they would’ve hurriedly signed without really doing proper due diligence and checking these things. This is how this administration has coveted this country. Once they got this project, they said ‘it’s okay, we will get this money’. They don’t care, they just signed on the dotted line without going through those details. A properly run country would’ve had the technical people going through those things meticulously before they sign.”

Harmon emphasised that APNU does not have the confidence in those who reportedly negotiated this contract to “negotiate any contract on behalf of this country; they are sloppy in the work that they do.”

“This criticism would now have to be extended to President Donald Ramotar, because he should’ve repudiated a lot of the arrangements that were organized by (former president) Bharrat Jagdeo and said look ‘let us have a fresh look at these things’. But rather than doing that, he has actually adopted them as his own, so he has to accept responsibility for these things right now. He is the President and he has to accept responsibility, because he has picked up from where Jagdeo left off and has not changed anything.”