Officials deny corruption in Laventille centre

NH INTERNATIONAL has been cleared of wrongdoing in the construction of the Laventille Technology Centre, which will be formally opened next month. During last week’s Budget debate in the House of Representatives, Barataria/San Juan MP Dr Fuad Khan claimed there was corruption in the award of the contract to construct that centre. Officials at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education yesterday categorically denied those allegations They said tenders for the centre closed on August 30 2002, and the tenders were evaluated in September 2002 by the National Energy Skills Centre (NESC). Current Legal Affairs Minister Danny Montano was the Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education at that time.

The NESC invited five contractors — NH International, Moosai Development, Beaver Construction, Home Construction and Kee Chanona — to submit tenders for the centre. One official said all of the tenders submitted were practically the same. Two bids were eventually received from NH International ($12.16 million) and Kee Chanona ($12.55 million) while the other three contractors declined to bid. NH International was awarded the contract since its bid was “slightly lower” than Kee Chanona’s. “On the face of it, there does not appear to be any gross irregularity,” another official said. However, the official pointed out that the only area of contention could be the fact that the tendering process was selective and not open. Montano was replaced by Colm Imbert in a November 7 2003 Cabinet reshuffle.