SCRUTINY

labour factor,” the deputy CEO said.

“In order to reach the amount on the estimate, we did a calculation of what is the cost of the chemical, the amount of chemical to be applied per square metre, and the area of that particular location,” he added.

Asked by committee member Leslie Campbell to provide the name and cost of the chemical, Munroe said it was quaternary sanitisers, which cost $2,880 per five-gallon container.

He was unable to provide specifics on how much was used for the project.

However, a copy of the documents presented to the committee by the municipal corporation indicated that one of the chemicals used throughout the project was sodium hypochlorite, a common ingredient in bleach.

Committee member Fitz Jackson shared that the Portmore municipality spent a total of $300,000 to carry out cleaning and sanitisation of “all the major gathering areas in Portmore, Naggo Head Transport Centre, Waterford Transport Centre, Greater Portmore Health Centre and Library, all the bus shelters and all of Portmore Mall”. He said the cleaning and sanitisation exercise was carried out after the outbreak of COVID-19 cases at the Alorica call centre.

The Ocho Rios project was implemented under emergency contract, which facilitates direct contracting as set out by the Public Sector Procurement Handbook.

Chief Executive Officer of the St Ann Municipal Corporation Rovel Morris was quizzed on how the contractor was identified.

The committee was told that a letter to verify the competency of Rahim’s Cleaning and Trucking Limited came from Tracy Fakourie, regional operations manager of NEPM Waste Management Limited.

Companies Office of Jamaica records indicate that Rahim’s Cleaning and Trucking Limited was incorporated in August 2017 and is located in Cross Roads, St Andrew. Rahim Walker and Damion Shirley are named as directors and shareholders.

The agreement between the St Ann Municipal Corporation and the contracting firm was signed on March 26, 2020. However, the letter of recommendation from Fakourie was dated May 20, 2020, almost two months after the contract was signed.

“So you would have got the recommendation after the work was completed,” McNeill observed.

Responding, Morris said: “Based on how the process goes, there are times that you have verbal communication and then the letters would come. So there are some aspects that would not be recorded on paper, but they are through telephone conversations.”

The St Ann Municipal Corporation said that the company was National Contracts Commission-qualified in the area of sanitation.