China Railway First Group Co. Ltd (CRFG) yesterday said that it abides by the laws of Guyana and it expressed “strong indignation” at claims made in a recent broadcast by VICE News on the activities of Chinese businesses here.
On Thursday, US-based VICE News relayed an extended version of its video report on ‘Guyana For Sale’ which examined the operations of Chinese businesses in the country and challenged Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on government corruption. Jagdeo has vehemently denied the insinuations against him and has said that he intends to sue the middleman, Su Zhirong who made the claims in the programme.
In the Thursday segment, VICE News reporter Isobel Yeung recorded a number of Chinese businessmen operating in Guyana admitting to laundering money and paying bribes to the government in order to gain priority access to lucrative contracts as well as to be able to further their investments here. A report on this segment was carried in Fri-day’s edition of Stabroek News.
Yesterday, the statement by China Railway traced its presence here since 2008 – when it made a bid for the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project – and accused VICE News of spreading untruthful information. It also distanced itself from Su.
“CRFG hereby solemnly states that CRFG has never signed any agreement with Su Zhirong, nor has it conduct(ed) any actions that were shown in the foot-age”, the statement said.
Regarding the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP), CRFG noted that Sithe Global, a U.S. based company which held the concession rights, publicized the invitation for bids for the project across the globe in May, 2008, and CRFG participated in the bidding process.
In November, 2008, CRFG said it was an-nounced as the successful bidder for the Engineering, Procurement and Construction Contract of Amaila Falls Hydropower Project, which was officially signed between CRFG and Sithe Global in September, 2012. In August, 2013, the statement noted that Sithe Global, due to the expiration of the concession rights for the project, exited the development of the project and it was set aside.
In July, 2021, CRFG noted that the Government of Guyana publicized a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Amaila Hydropower Project. It said that among all the proposals submitted by the companies in September, 2021, CRFG’s proposal presented the lowest price. Therefore, in November, 2021, the Government of Guyana said that it would proceed to next round of negotiations for the project preferably with CRFG.
On May 30 this year, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo told a press conference that CRFG had advised that they are “having a hard time doing the BOOT (Build, Own, Operate and Transfer) Contract and they want to shift to an EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) plus financing, where the government finances the project and they will be the contractors.”
According to Jagdeo the suggested method of financing is not possible at this time since those are not terms under which the company bid for the project. He said that it was likely the government will have to re-tender the project if the company fails to find the financing. No further statement has been issued by the government on this.
CRFG’s statement yesterday said that similar procedures were followed for the fulfilment of the `East Coast Demerara Public Road Widening and Improvement Project-Better Hope to Belfield Village’. In November, 2013, it said that the Government of Guyana publicized the notice for pre-qualification for this project, and eight companies including CRFG participated in the pre-qualification process. Later on, CRFG and five other companies were shortlisted to enter the official bidding as the second stage. The bids were opened in May, 2014, and CRFG said that with its lowest price (lower than the Engineer’s estimates), it was announced as the successful bidder among the four companies which submitted the bids. In December, 2014, CRFG signed the contract for this project with the Ministry of Public Works. “And CRFG delivered to (the) Guyanese people so far the best roadway in Guyana with the highest quality at the lowest price, which is highly commended by local residents”, the statement said.
It added: “Since its presence in Guyana from 2008, CRFG strictly abides by the laws and regulations of Guyana in conducting its business operations in the country. We express strong indignation on the behaviours that VICE News and Su Zhirong deliberately fabricated stories and spread such untruthful information on the internet to mislead the public and damage the reputation of our company. We strongly condemn such behaviours of defaming Chinese enterprises. Given such, CRFG hereby declares that it reserves the right to seek legal actions against VICE News and Su Zhirong for their reputation damaging behaviours and the rights to claim compensations for loss so incurred to our company’s business”.
