-Ali promises information on salvage bids
Government assistance to persons affected by the MV Barima tragedy has risen to $122.35 million, President Irfaan Ali said yesterday, an increase of at least $47.35 million since the administration reported less than three weeks ago that more than $75 million had been disbursed.
The increase was the principal new disclosure in Ali’s update on the government’s Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Relief Team response. Kiskadee Watch reported on August 25 that over $75 million had been paid to more than 750 persons across all 10 regions.
Ali said the $122.35 million had gone to families of the dead, survivors and relatives of missing persons. He said the register of affected persons and the needs assessment were each 99% complete, but he did not provide a breakdown of the additional spending or identify the outstanding cases.
Twenty families have been approved for house lots or turnkey homes valued at approximately $73.99 million, he said. Other assistance includes psychosocial care, trauma support, help with schooling and replacement documents, legal and probate services, guardianship arrangements, livelihood support and cooperation with religious and private sector organisations.
The President said the state was committed for the long term, but several central questions surrounding the disaster remain unanswered, including when public hearings of the Commission of Inquiry will begin and who will be awarded the contract to remove the wreck.
Ten companies were shortlisted for the salvage works and three submitted formal bids: BK International Inc at $1.034 billion, Industrial Fabrications Inc at $1.895 billion and Netherlands-based KMS BV at $2.0351 billion. No award has yet been announced.
Asked about the procurement process and the bidders, Ali said he had not been comprehensively briefed. He promised to obtain an update and have the information supplied to the press and public. He did not address whether the names of the shortlisted firms that did not submit formal bids would be disclosed, or the evaluation criteria and timetable for an award.
Questions have also arisen over the presence of KMS BV in the final three after the Dutch company was invited to participate. The government has not publicly explained the basis on which all the firms were shortlisted or invited, whether the same information and time were afforded to each, and how the eventual selection will be insulated from perceptions of preferential access.
On the Commission of Inquiry, Ali said an update had been left in his vehicle and he had not collected it. “I know work has started,” he said, while promising a fuller account. As of the beginning of September, no public hearing date had been announced.
The MV Barima capsized and sank off the Essequibo Coast on the night of July 18 while travelling between Georgetown and the North West District. Seventy-three bodies were subsequently recovered and 76 persons rescued, while others remain unaccounted for. The vessel’s captain, chief mate and goods superintendent have since been charged with 72 counts of murder.
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