Oct 25, 2021- Kaieteur News
The Chinese companies which are the lone bidders vying for the contract to design and build the New Demerara Harbour Bridge, a project which falls under the Ministry of Public Works, were once blacklisted by the World Bank for corrupt practices.
New Demerara Harbour Bridge – below the existing bridge — looking North
COMPANIES INVOLVED
The companies in question are China State Construction Engineering Corporation, China Road & Bridge Corporation in joint venture with Peutes y Calzadas Infrastructuras SLU, China Geizhouba Group Company Limited, and joint venture partners: China Railway Construction (International) Limited, China Railway Construction (Caribbean) Corporation Limited, and China Railway Construction, Bridge Engineering Bureau Group Corporation Limited.
These Chinese-owned firms were among nine international companies pre-qualified by the government back in March to bid for the construction of the new bridge.
Research done by this publication found that China State Construction was debarred by the World Bank in January 2009 for six years after the company along with another Chinese-owned company reportedly colluded with local companies in the Philippines to rig the bidding of road projects in that country.
In 2017, the American subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering Corp., China Construction America was sued for “massive fraud” of a Bahamas Resort. BML Properties Limited, the owner of the Baha Mar Resort in Nassau, Bahamas had filed a $2.25 billion lawsuit against the company accusing the contractor of submitting hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent bills.
China Road and Bridge Corporation which is a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) Limited was one of the seven companies debarred with China State Construction by the World Bank for fraudulent practices in relation to the Philippines road project.
The project was the Philippines National Roads Improvement and Management Program which was partly financed by a US$150 million loan from the Bank.
Another company, China Geizhouba Group Company Limited along with its four subsidiaries was blacklisted in May 2015, for misconduct involving three World Bank funded projects in the People’s Republic of China related to water conservation, earthquake recovery and flood management.
Geizhouba Group was debarred for a period of 18 months. This company too is one of the four companies bidding for the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project.
Kaieteur News learnt also that China Railway Construction Corporation (International) Limited and its two subsidiaries were blacklisted in June 2019 for alleged fraudulent practices involving a project in Georgia.
They were all debarred for nine months.
According to research, the debarment was part of a settlement with the three companies related to misconduct during the procurement process for a highway construction contract.
It was reported that the construction of the new bridge is expected to begin by the end of the year and conclude within two years. This four-lane, high-span fixed bridge, which is commonly referred to as the “flyover” is set to be built with the lifespan of 50 years.
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Comments
Good luck to all but still remain in Guyana. Get out if you can because you won’t have any money and the Chinese will take everything over,… and like anywhere else in the world you’ll be in debt to them forever…. you think you guys are unhappy you’ll be really unhappy and sorry.
It’s no wonder there’s more Guyanese living outside of Guyana than in Guyana.
Right on for Guyana for letting history repeat itself again lol
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10 billion barrel oil won’t save us?
World Bank is corrupted!
You want anybody more corrupt than our government? Greased palms will open many doors. Just wait and see who gets the contracts….that’s if they publicize it!!!
This outcome with only Chinese companies left in the bidding process is hardly surprising given the details of the bidding conditions:
“For this project, bidders were advised by the Ministry that they are required to bid on two options, a Design –Build and Finance option and a Design-Build-Operate, and Finance option.”
No US or European construction company would be able to operate such a bridge on a profit. In my opinion, the Georgetown Harbour Bridge is a key infrastructure project of national importance, which needs to be funded by the Guyanese government using grants from the World Bank, IDB or the EU to finance the project over the next 20-30 years.
I predict the same fate (only Chinese contracts left) for the planed bridge over the Corentyne river, where the traffic numbers are a fraction of those across the Demerara river. If I recall correctly, the Ali administration favors a “Design-Build-Operate, and Finance” model.
I would also like to draw attention to the planed time line, which appears to be utterly unrealistic for a project of such a magnitude:
“It was reported that the construction of the new [harbor] bridge is expected to begin by the end of the year and conclude within two years. This four-lane, high-span fixed bridge, which is commonly referred to as the “flyover” is set to be built with the lifespan of 50 years.”
It appears that nobody in the Ali government has a background in construction engineering…. Planing a new bridge including access roads from scratch takes 2-3 years in Switzerland and then at least 3 years to build.
The Chinese infrastructure bidding model is simple and should be well known by now in Guyana:
1) You put in a bid so low that all other competitors drop out.
2) You promise Chinese state funds (at market rates) to finance the project.
3) You win the contract and get started with the work.
4) Once you are well into the project you inform the government that it is impossible to complete the contract on the the financial conditions offered at the time of bidding.
5) The government is stuck with you as a contractor and will be paying up just to prevent being left with a white elephant or a project stalled for many years to come.
The example of the CJIA expansion serves as a living reminder for all to see.
I concur entirely with Dr. B’s analyses. Should the current Govt. and its political cadres spend some time on U-Tube, they would understand how they are placing the country and its resources at risk. There have been too construction failures coming to light recently in China to go in that direction.
The Ali govt’s. representatives need to visit some of the Scandanavian countries and take a good look at some great and very successful engineering projects completed over the past 20 years.
Have they considered which country’s engineers had successfully bridged the Mahaica, Mahaicony, and Abary rivers with railway tracks? When one considers how the flow of water, those were great projects for the time; the successors of those contractors with the new technology now available 100 years later, are the ones whose engineers the Guyana govt. should be seriously considering for the river bridging projects. As a long shot, they could also send out inquires inquires as to the successors of the builders of the Golden Gate Bridge in California.
More haste requires less speed; it’s more important to get the job done right the first time and have projects stand the test of time, than to hasten same only for the glory of saying a half-assed job was completed during the regime of a particular govt or minister.
Of course, such would not only result in the waste of the country’s resources, but the Chinese always want to secure their debt by a pledge of a country’s harbors and other capital assets. Check that out also on U-Tube.
When I was in my early twenties, I did not want to leave Guyana. I still thought that Guyana had the potential to be a great country. Little by little I began to see the destructive nature of Burnham and his nihilistic mentality. Even though I was earning well at the time, I came to the conclusion that Guyana was going to be destroyed: I decided to migrate. It was a great decision. I returned briefly in 1980 and was shocked to see the decay in living conditions.
Dr. Jagan got back into gov’t and began to rebuild the country, almost from scratch. The Jagans died and Mr. Jagdeo took over and then Mr. Ramotar. They continued to rebuild and go forward. However the PPP became arrogantly aloof and lost the elections. Before leaving the gov’t, Mr. Ramotar, Robert Prasad (Persaud) and Jagdeo, all colluded to give away the patrimony of the Guyanese people to Exxon, resulting from the discovery of oil. Then came the PNC and Granger and his band of thieves. They stole everything they could lay their hands on and emptied the the national treasury. They also enriched themselves at the request and encouragement of Exxon. (There is documented proof of Exxon corrupting other gov’ts in whose nations they found oil).
The PPP is back in power. They recently had the chance to rectify their mistakes, in regards to the initial contracts they singed with Exxon. There were many qualified experts willing to offer advice to them: they were all ignored. They went ahead and signed they new contracts, once again to the detriment of Guyana. Suriname, where oil was recently found, signed contracts which were favorable to its people.
Mr. Alli has never administered and managed, as we say in Guyana, “a cake shop”. The Chinese companies are not to be trusted. As proof, look at the corruption and quite frankly, the robbery of funds regarding the Cheddi Jagan International Airport. These Chinese companies are like the Indian or English national cricket team playing against a primary school cricket team. I honestly believe that the PPP or the PNC will lead Guyana to economic and social bankruptcy.
Irfan Ali (and Bharrat Jajdeo) cannot be trusted- wolves in sheep’s clothing!
Best news ever for the Guyanese people. I warned against giving out any construction contract to any Chinese company but the idiots we have for leaders won’t listen. I am happy that they have been barred from any bidding. Never trust the Chinese, period!
I think there’s already been a track record of the Chinese mindset in our forest industry, notably the behaviour of Bai Shan Lin company. It seems to me that this Govt. goes out of its way to signal the side-show of corruption behind the scenes..as evidenced in the whole matter of using the Kazakhstan model for the Guyana Resources Fund. So it’s really not surprising that the Govt. has an open door of welcome to corrupt Chinese companies. They’re all looking to line their pockets during this term of office. I’m really not surprised..theft in broad daylight.