Opposition Member of Parliament Ganesh Mahipaul on Friday again questioned the delay in selecting a contractor to salvage the MV Barima, pointing out that the evaluation of tenders should not take weeks and warning that further delays could compromise evidence needed to determine what caused the July 18 disaster.
Mahipaul said the three bids submitted for the salvage operation should now be evaluated against the requirements set out in the tender documents, with the most responsive bidder ultimately selected.
“Evaluate tenders before the award is made. I don’t understand what is taking so long with this process,” Mahipaul told reporters on the sidelines of the handing over of the Auditor General’s Report for the fiscal year 2025 at Public Buildings, Brickdam, Georgetown.
He explained that the evaluation should involve checking each bidder against the requirements established in the tender documents, including business registration, equipment and relevant expertise. “So for example, each one of those tenders you will have business registration. You go to the table as the evaluator and you click, you tick if that has been met. Whether you are compliant, you tick. If you have the necessary equipment, you tick. If you have the expertise, you tick. Whatever you ask for, you check those documents to see that they are provided.”
“How can that possibly take from September 8th to September 25th?” he asked. “This is clear wickedness on the part of the government.”
Three companies submitted formal bids after the salvage process moved from expressions of interest to the tender stage. BK International Inc submitted the lowest bid at $1.034 billion, followed by Industrial Fabrications Inc at $1.895 billion and Netherlands-based KMS B.V. at $2.0351 billion. The bids were opened on September 8 for the salvage of the wreck from Devonshire Castle Flats on a “no cure, no pay” basis.
Despite the opening of the bids, no salvage contractor had been publicly identified, even as the government had earlier said approximately 10 companies submitted expressions of interest, with shortlisted firms later invited to submit prices.
Mahipaul yesterday stressed that the longer the vessel remains underwater, the greater the concern about deterioration of evidence. “And the nation wants the boat to be salvaged, the preservation of the evidence,” he said. “And the longer it sits in the salt water, it is deteriorating the evidence that is expected to bring some form of comfort, some form of justice, some form of satisfaction to the families that have lost their loved ones.”
The MV Barima sank off the Essequibo Coast on July 18 while travelling from Georgetown to Port Kaituma, leaving 73 people confirmed dead, while approximately 30 people remained unaccounted for.
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