Georgetown: Seven of the companies bidding to construct Guyana’s first recycling plant have been invited to submit detailed proposals after being shortlisted by the Multi-Agency Evaluation Committee, acting Local Government and Regional Development Minister Norman Whittaker said.
The committee comprises representatives from a number of sectors and agencies, including the local government and regional development, finance, housing and water, and agriculture ministries as well as GO-Invest.
Minister Whittaker said the ministry has implemented Terms of Reference (ToRs) which the companies will have to follow in their proposals. He disclosed that the ToRs include: a Build, Operate, Own and Transfer (BOOT) private/public partnership; and data on solid waste generation in Guyana, municipal solid waste, rice husk, and wood waste. In addition, the ToRs include the criteria on which the proposals will be evaluated.
Late last year, the government was forced to withdraw from an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with Natural Globe Guyana Inc on November 11, to establish a US$30 million recycling plant, after it was revealed that its chief executive officer Mohammed Osman had provided conflicting information . Among those discrepancies was the fact that his company had only ever built a prototype of the facility he would have been required to build under the MoU. It was also subsequently revealed that Human Services and Social Security Minister Jenifer Webster’s daughter was a director of the company. Both mother and daughter said that either had influenced the process.
The company was one of nine companies that submitted proposals to the government. According to the ministry, it took a little more than 12 months for each proposal to be reviewed, along with extensive research on all the companies, before Natural Globe was given the nod.
The shortlisted companies are a mixture of both foreign and local companies.
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