Two senior executives at the National Gas Company of T&T (NGC) have refused to comment on whether contractor Super Industrial Services Ltd (SISL) breached tender rules by seeking to outsource the massive $1.6 billion Beetham Waste Water Recycling Project. The Sunday Guardian visited the Caspian Drive end of the project in Point Lisas yesterday and was able to obtain photographic evidence that work had begun on that end of the project.
The Sunday Guardian contacted NGC chairman Roop Chan Chadeesingh and its president Indar Maharaj, but both could not speak on the issue. Chadeesingh said he was out of the country. “I haven’t seen any newspapers. I am in New York right now,” he said. Chadeesingh then directed all subsequent questions on the project to Maharaj.
Maharaj did not respond to calls to his mobile phone, but in response to a text message he directed the Sunday Guardian to send all “written questions to NGC” a (sic) communication manager Ms Charmaine Mohammed for an appropriate response.” He also informed the Sunday Guardian that the office was closed at the time. After several unsuccessful attempts to contact the SISL head office, the Sunday Guardian contacted the company’s general secretary attached to the board, Cindy Seecharan.
Seecharan answered two calls to her mobile but repeated “hello?” several times when the paper identified itself. She did not respond to text messages. The Sunday Guardian also attempted to contact SISL director Jimmy Hosein but again, all calls remained unanswered.
Finance Minister Larry Howai, in an email exchange with the Sunday Guardian earlier in the week, reiterated that the project was being funded solely by NGC and was not part of any loans from the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). Howai said NGC was government-owned and as such projects undertaken by the entity were open to public accountability.
“The NGC is not exempt in any way. The NGC falls under the Public Accounts (Enterprises) Committee (PAEC) of Parliament and are required to account. In any event, no one is above the law and any action can be subject to judicial review,” Howai said.
JCC calls for project to be halted
Amid the silence on all quarters regarding this project, the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) has renewed its call for the project to be halted. In an interview with the Sunday Guardian on Thursday, JCC head Afra Raymond said the project was “off-balance sheet” as it did not feature in the budget.
Raymond said the JCC was not questioning why SISL got the contract, as SISL was part of the construction consortium and belonged to the JCC, but questioned whether proper protocol was observed. “What are we really doing and why are we really doing it? How much would WASA have to pay to these people over X years? What is the rationale?” Raymond asked.
He said if the state-owned enterprises remained silent, then it was the responsibility of the Minister of Finance to present those facts to the public.
