Dear Editor,
The Kaieteur News article of August 20 titled ‘Stanleytown pump and engine’ is totally erroneous and mischievous. The public must be forewarned about this newspaper that is out to create an impression that there is much corruption and overpricing involved in the meting out of contracts.
Firstly, the company, Everglades Farm Equipment in Florida does not sell pumps of this nature. I visited the company (photograph provided) and was told in no uncertain terms that the company is a John Deere dealer in farm equipment and if I was interested in pumps of that nature, I should check with the Moving Water Industries (MWI) pump company. They were unable to provide me with any estimates for the cost of such pumps. They could, however, supply the John Deere engine and the price landed in Guyana would be in the vicinity of US$50,000. This is approaching $11M. I hereby challenge the Kaieteur News to obtain a detailed quotation from this company for the pump, engine and gear drive and publish it in all the newspapers.
I purchased the engine for the Stanleytown pump station from the local John Deere dealer at a lower price with full parts and labour warranty, which is a requirement of the contract. As can be seen from the invoice [copy provided] the price for the engine alone without VAT and duty is $8,610,228. If I were to pay duty and taxes, it would be $10,487,257. This approximates to the $11M Kaieteur News is referring to.
Also attached to this letter is the price schedule for the pump, gear drive and drive shaft with coupling as supplied by the MWI pump company that manufactured the pump. The prices are:
Pump – US$178,273 ($36,724,238)
Gear drive – US$40,360 ($8,314,160)
Drive shaft and coupling – US$3,446 ($709,876)
This gives a total value of the imported equipment of $54,358,502.
The discharge pipe work (54 inch ID) and skid supporting the engine and gear drive were manufactured locally at a cost in excess of $2M.
I am now requesting Mr Glen Lall to refute these prices that can be verified by the Auditor General of Guyana, and if he can’t, would he have the guts to publish an apology for his gross inaccuracies on the front page of the Kaieteur News. If he finds these prices still too high for a total bid price of $61.5M for supplying and installing the pump, then there is something wrong with him.
Similarly, I would like him to identify the make of paint where you can use fourteen (14) gallons and apply three coats of spray paint to the entire pumphouse. I believe he is in contact with UFOs as that kind of paint does not exist on earth.
Can Mr Lall tell the public if the $11M pump he is talking about is a disposable pump like disposable cameras, or is it a pump intended for the long-term disposal of floodwater? I am looking forward to his response.
Yours faithfully,
Harrychand Tulsi
