| In its quest to rationalise the parliamentary opposition’s decision to slash the allocation for the highly-touted Specialty Hospital, Government has sought to suggest that the move was in fact inspired by a personal vendetta.This deduction was hinted at by Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh as he spoke at a recent press conference hosted by the ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic administration.Finance Minister, Dr Ashni SinghRegarding the move as particularly significant, Dr Singh reflected how the cut was moved by Leader of the Alliance for Change,Wholesale Nike Baseball Jerseys, Khemraj Ramjattan, “who by his own admission was, I don’t know if he still is, but was at the time the legal representative…the lawyer of the aggrieved bidder.”The bidder in question, Fedders Lloyd Corporation Ltd of India, had in fact put in the lowest bid to construct the Specialty Hospital on the Lower East Coast Demerara, but was not awarded the contract.According to the Finance Minister, “he (Ramjattan) had an interest in the matter…he was the lawyer for the company that did not get the contract… and now knowing that another company got the contract properly and has been paid a mobilisation advance.”Dr Singh sought to emphasise that even in light of the fact that the project was properly approved the parliamentary opposition was yet bent on cutting the entire allocation of the project which he insists are significant dimensions to the state of affairs.The Finance Minister noted too that the opposition has continued to use its majority hold in the House to impose cuts against important allocations, with the first cut symbolically being that against the Specialty Hospital. As such,Wholesale Jerseys, in his attempt to slam the move, he shared his conviction that there is no medical facility currently available that provides specialised health care at the level that is intended by the Specialty Hospital.The project, according to the Minister, is one that has gained collaboration from the Government of India, which has provided a loan through the India Exim Bank. That loan, according to Dr Singh, has already been approved and the resulting loan agreement was tabled in the National Assembly last year in keeping with what he described as “our commitment to transparency and accountability.”In alluding to what he referred to as “a few significant dimensions” leading up to the cutting of the Specialty Hospital’s allocation,Bvb Neues Trikot 18/19, the Finance Minister noted that every effort was made by Government to provide extensive explanations on the project to the opposition.He recounted that Minister of Health, Dr Bheri Ramsaran, responded to every question posed to him by the opposition about the project adding that “I intervened and added and elaborated where the matters encroached more on a financial administration perspective rather than a health sector perspective…I stood up and I augmented his answers.”“They nevertheless, on a motion moved by Mr Khemraj Ramjattan, imposed a cut…Why is this significant? Why was this cut so important?” queried the Finance Minister.He went on to express that the significance of the project itself would have suggested that no responsible politician or reasonable member of the National Assembly would have cut the financial allocation for such a project.“No right-minded Guyanese would deny our country a facility such as that. You have the merits of the project which are obvious but were ignored by the Alliance for Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU),” Dr Singh said.This development, he said,Manchester City FC Kit 2018/19, materialised despite approval being granted by the opposition to have the project included in the budget,Bvb Trikot G��nstig, even as he noted that Government had since commenced implementation of the project by executing a legally binding contract with an international company.He said that this was done following a procurement process to construct the hospital, adding that a mobilisation advance was paid pursuant to the terms of the contract by Exim Bank on Government’s behalf to the contractor.“Those facts came out in this year’s questions and answers on this matter. The AFC specifically asked ‘has the company been paid any money on the contract’ and the answer was provided, yes, they have been paid a mobilisation advance.”According to Dr Singh, not only was the month of the payment disclosed,Air Max 90 Vendita Online, but the exact amount as well, information he insisted was already in the national estimates “but we answered the question anyhow. So they were aware that there was a legally binding contract with this company.”Over and above that, the Finance Minister made reference to the added dimension of the competing bidder who had failed to secure the contract and had initially protested the fact that it had not won the bid for the project. However he noted that the failed bidder did not seek to pursue the legally available remedy for bid protest, adding that “this so called aggrieved company instead of pursuing this remedy…they made a few public pronouncements and complains that they were not awarded the contract, although there was a sound technical evaluation by technicians that made a recommendation for the award.” |
