President Irfaan Ali has defended the $566.9m contract award to Kares Engineering Inc for the rebuilding of the North Ruimveldt Secondary School.
In an exclusive interview with Stabroek News on Monday, Ali says that all awards for government contracts follow the law which also has room for adjudication. With the former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran flaying the government for not acting to protect the over half a billion dollar in taxpayers’ money awarded to the company, Ali said that there is only so much government can do.
“This was a public tender. What are we to do? If you went out, if you go to public tender, a public process, people participate in the process, there’s a recommendation that goes to the tender board, the Board sends a recommendation to Cabinet, who can who only have a response…what else is there to do?” Ali questioned during the interview with this newspaper.
