Dear Editor,
The Kaieteur News on Monday, July 20, 2009 devoted three pages to create an impression that there was corruption involved in executing the contract for the Stanleytown Pump Station. The article can best be described as mischief.
The facts of the matter are as follows:
1. The KN staffers went to the pump station and said that they were from GINA and were there to do some reporting at the request of the Minister of Agriculture. They were given access to the station by the operator (not the security guard) on duty at the time.
The operator explained to them that the station was not in operation at the time because they had just shut off the pumps as the sluice was being operated. The operator further showed the KN crew that the inlet channel to the pump station was almost dry and he couldn’t pump more as the water would not get into the sump. The operator can be seen in the KN photograph standing next to the trash racks, and the water stains on the trash racks in the photograph show that the water was about four feet below the normal ‘high level.’ None of this was mentioned in the article; instead they reported that the pumps were not being operated because there was no operator. Would KN please say who the gentleman in the blue shirt and white pants in the photograph is if he was not the operator that their reporters spoke with?
2. KN took many photographs of the two engines, the two pumps, gear drives, etc, but only showed one engine and a gear drive in the article. In fact, the same photograph was used to cover two pages of the publication. Written material covered a mere one third of one page out of three pages.
3. The article stated that the excavation works were stopped because the area was flooded due to the pumps and sluices not being operated. Well, the very same photograph printed by KN shows how low the water was in the vicinity of the pump station and where the remaining excavation had been stopped awaiting the removal of squatters.
4. The contractor hereby challenges KN to present a single bidder for this project that offered a lower price, regardless of whether the bidder was qualified or not.
5. The contractor also challenges KN to present the resident who compared his house with a pump station. The gear drive alone shown in the photograph is worth significantly more that a six million dollar house.
6. On the evening of the said Monday, July 20, one of the KN reporters called me on my mobile phone and quite politely requested information on the Liliendaal pump station rehabilitation. I said to her that this was an improvement and asked why KN didn’t do the same before presenting three pages of trash for public consumption. She laughed and said that is gone and she would like to do a better job on the Liliendaal project. I said to her that I am willing to give her general information on the project but it must be accurately reported and there must be a withdrawal of the lies in that day’s KN. She said that she could not give me that guarantee and I responded that I would not give any information. She then said that I was withholding information.
7. Mr Glenn Lall then called me and said “Hi buddy, how you doing? Minister Robert gave me your cell phone number and asked me to get the details about the Liliendaal contract from you.” I said ok, what details are you looking for? And he said, “I am a taxpayer and this government is wasting out money, my money.” I said to him that I am an engineer and a contractor and I am not in the business of politics. The fruitless discussion went on for about two minutes in which I outlined that any details he needed could be found in the contract and if the Minister was kind enough to give him my cell phone number, then he should be asked to instruct me to provide the fine details KN may be looking for. The discussion ended at that.
I hereby challenge Mr Glenn Lall to present to the public one single bidder qualified or not who has offered to undertake this project at a lower price. Similarly, I challenge him to find a bidder, qualified or not, who tendered lower prices for the Kitty or Greenfield pump stations. Present these bidders who were cheated in a corrupt process. On a note of kindness to the KN, I am offering to follow the Kitty project from the cost of the equipment to completion and commissioning. I will accommodate and present the bill of lading, commercial invoices, bills of quantities, etc, and challenge Mr Lall to find pumps of similar quality at even 125 % higher than the prices we offered – even out of China. These pumps will be shipped later this month from the USA where they were manufactured from stainless steel and Corten steel. Please note the next lowest bid for this project was 150% of our bid price.
Yours faithfully,
Harrychand Tulsi
