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Education Minister Anthony Garcia said yesterday his Ministry was open to making spaces available in the nation’s schools for children displaced by Maria, however this would be done according to the guidance of the Ministry of National Security.

Rowley, responding to questions about the volume of Dominican citizens who may want to seek refuge in T&T, said he would not expect “the whole of Dominica” to come.

Rowley said at most he would expect one, maybe two thousand people to accept.

Rowley said if people come to T&T and had a place to stay no means of support, that would not be a reason to turn them away.

The PM also said he has not yet been able to speak directly with his Caricom counterpart, the prime minister of Dominica.

During his delivery yesterday, Rowley recalled his own family’s devastation following Hurricane Flora’s attack on Tobago in 1963. agency’s website was down as it was being rebuilt. Teixeira did note, however, that the Finance Ministry’s website had indicated that one company was listed – MMM Group (Canada) in association with CEMCO with a bid of $848,950 – in the minutes for the April 26, 2016 opening of bids, for the consultancy.

“The fact that as of April 26, 2016 one company seemed to be in the running and then 7 months later another company that never tendered is awarded the contract is highly suspect. Therefore there has been no transparency with regard to this bid, the selection and award of the Consultancy for the Feasibility Study and Designs for the new Demerara River Crossing to LievenseCSO,” she argued.

Teixeira also bemoaned the fact that there is no public information pertaining to cost of the project and other pertinent information, which she called a violation of the Procurement Act. remove the insulation?”

He also cited the recent exchanges between the President and Leader of the Opposition on the issue of the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission.

Nandlall noted that the constitution directs that the Leader of the Opposition submit six names yet he has so far submitted 18 and no chairman has been selected.

“Have we convinced ourselves that our constitution and the breadth of its provisions do not meet the needs of the people of Guyana and are therefore ineffective….at this juncture the need for constitutional compliance trumps the need for constitutional reform,” Nandlall stressed.

Meanwhile, Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman who appeared on behalf of Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo told those gathered that the Constitutional Reform Commission Bill which is presently before the Standing Committee on Constitutional Reform will be the “first order of business for the National Assembly when it returns from recess at the end of October. Nagamootoo was attending another event on behalf of President Granger who is at the UN General Assembly.

The more than twohour discourse on the issue protective

“The denial of access to information with regard to the opening of the bids on December 8, 2015, or any other date, the Award of the Tender to a company that did not tender in December 2015, or any other date, and, the unavailability of the Award of Tender in November 2016 or any other date, for the value of GY$146.3M to the said company which requires the NPTA Board’s approval is alarming and a travesty. This lack of transparency on this award, its contents and costs, is in violation of the Procurement Act, in particular the S 11 (1) and (2), and its Regulations,” she stated.

Government’s recent announcement of the findings of the feasibility study was what brought attention to these violations, Teixeira said.

Additionally, she pointed out that the fact that the Ministry of Public Infrastructure had gone out to tender on August 21, 2017 for the prequalification of contractors for the financing, designing and building of the bridge and that the companies had only two weeks to supply their bids, further compounded and continued the violations of the Procurement Act. As a result, she urged the investigation.

In response, the Public Infrastructure Ministry statement that was issued last night noted that while 22 firms expressed their interest and 12 of these firms were subsequently shortlisted, only two submitted bids for the consultancy, which was advertised by the ministry with funding from the InterAmerican Development Bank.

It said of the two submissions, only one firm had a valid bid but its bid price exceeded the US$800,000 budget. Additionally, it noted that concerns were also raised on the technical level.

“Subsequently, [the ministry] made the decision to annul the process in May, following permission from [NPTAB] and the Ministry of Finance,” it explained, while adding that it nevertheless continued to seek suitable consultants due to the significance of the project and the need for its realisation. The ministry said it actively sought greatly qualified consultants worldwide and it was during engagements with various companies, including those in the Netherlands, the Dutch Risk Reduction (DRR) Team that had visited, and in England, LievenseCSO, was recommended.

It said a bid was later received from LievenseCSO and the ministry applied to NPTAB and received permission to engage the company. “Upon evaluation of the bid, it was determined that it was the best out of all that had been submitted, both on the technical level and in relation to price,” it added. The ministry said that Cabinet was subsequently invited to consider the proposal and gave its No Objection to the award of the contract and the progression of the project.