United National Congress Senator Gerald Ramdeen has accused a top Housing Development Corporation (HDC) official of bid rigging.
He made the accusation during a press conference at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, as he also urged the Government to fire the entire HDC board for facilitating the process.
Ramdeen alleged that the official manipulated the process because they wanted to ensure a certain media firm earned the highest evaluation for the construction of houses under the newly-proposed private/public partnership contract with the HDC, which was announced recently by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
Calling for the partnership to be quashed, Ramdeen said the value of the entire programme was close to $8 billion and if it were not handled properly it could topple the country’s economy.
Ramdeen presented a bundle of HDC documents he claimed were official, showing that the official was “favourably hired” by the HDC in the first instance due to her People’s National Movement connections.
He said he intended to pass the documents to the acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams, the DPP and the Integrity Commission.
“There are a lot of questions that have to be answered and the persons who are involved have to answer. Perhaps she (the official) could answer as to why she is sending an email with the tender documents, as well as the draft bill and telling the person to whom that is sent to fill in the blanks ... what to leave out, what to put in and thereafter sitting on the evaluation committee,” Ramdeen added.
He said the HDC has tender rules, which spoke to conflict of interest, which were published in 2010 and singled out that the process must be fair to all parties. The official’s substantive post at the HDC, he said, was a land coordinator with a $23,000 per month salary. But he alleged she now receives an enhanced package of $51,000 per month and an SUV and driver for her private use.
“She is a mid-level manager at the HDC earning approximately $64,000 per month. She is receiving the second largest salary at the HDC, almost two times the salary of a divisional manager, who are just below the range of managing director,” Ramdeen said.
Minister rubbishes claim
Contacted yesterday, however, Housing Minister Randall Mitchell described Ramdeen’s claims as rubbish, saying he was confused as there was “no $8 billion public/private partnership” arrangement.
Saying he still had to be fully apprised and make a comprehensive response, Mitchell said Ramdeen’s claim was merely to distract the public from the issues at hand. He said in January this year, entities from across the country were invited to submit expressions of interest for the public/private partnership.
“So any entity was free to submit. We had an overwhelming response. We had one tender that was the Mt Hope tender and for that tender we had 12 bidders,” Mitchell said, adding that a media company was not among those bidders.
The HDC official, he added, was not part of that process. He said in response to the invitation, three of those entities would have submitted proposals, following which NH was identified as the preferred bidder for the Mt Hope project.
“I am not sure what the allegations truly are. To me it sounds as just a distraction from what is being discussed right now ... profligacy, waste, mismanagement and corruption of the last administration.”
Regarding claims levelled against the official, he confirmed she was in charge of land management at the HDC but added that he was unaware of her salary.
“I am not sure of any other benefits as regards her terms of contract,” Mitchell added.