Works Minister Suruj Rambachan yesterday said the e-mail to the Prime Minister by his ministerial junior, Stacy Roopnarine, had not affected his working relationship with Roopnarine “at all.” He was asked during yesterday’s weekly Government press conference about the e-mail Roopnarine sent to the PM about her concerns about Rambachan in a bidding aspect of the Curepe interchange project being handled by Nidco.
The Prime Minister had said in Parliament on Wednesday, thus far, allegations contained in Roopnarine’s e-mail have not been evidenced in any regard and it may well be the junior minister was “not apprised of all of the facts.” The PM added there appeared to be no interference and no award had been made to date. Saying the process was ongoing, she added she had made enquiries on the issue and concerns were raised and addressed “to my satisfaction at this time.”
Responding to queries on the Roopnarine matter yesterday, Rambachan said: “I respect the rights of anyone in Government to bring to the Prime Minister’s attention a matter of concern. The Prime Minister has already spoken on this in Parliament and I don’t think there’s anything more I can comment on.”
Asked what discussions might have taken place for Roopnarine to feel she had to take the matter to the PM, her boss said: “I wouldn’t like to comment on this matter again. I think the Prime Minister has adequately addressed this in Parliament and I will like to leave it there.”
On the process in the issue, Rambachan said when the job was tendered by Nidco, it entailed two packages involving technical evaluation and financial proposals. They were examined on a 80-20 ratio with 80 being the technical aspect and 20 the financial aspect .
He said when bids were opened the company that had the highest price was Vinci ($522 million), Coosals’ was $416 million and Lutchmeesingh’s was $331 million. Rambachan said the difference in price between the lowest and highest bidders was $200 million.
He said when the 80/20 ratio formula was applied, Vinci was rated first, Lutchmeesingh second and Coosal third. He said he was told the difference between the first and second companies was one point and one point represented a $200 million difference.
Rambachan said the price approved by Cabinet for the job was $309 million and that was where the difference of $200 million was examined between the first and second-ranked companies. On his alleged interaction with the Nidco board, Rambachan said he met with all boards under his jurisdiction from time-to-time to be updated on any projects.
He listed the tenders committee, however, adding it was the board which decided on such projects and not the minister. Rambachan said his concern was that projects were not tainted by corruption and that rules, including procurement procedures, were followed.
He said he was doing all he could but Nidco was the project manager in that. “There hasn’t been anything untoward in this project,” he added.