Jagdeo urges review of CJIA expansion project

President Donald Ramotar should seek answers about the credibility of China Harbour Engineering Company Limited, the contractor of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) whose parent company has been blacklisted by the World Bank, former President Bharrat Jagdeo has said.
Jagdeo made the comments to reporters in New York earlier this week amid swirling allegations of the integrity of the Chinese firm. Jagdeo said Ramotar should seek explanations from the Chinese government about the conduct of CHEC since it is state owned, the National Communications Network (NCN) reported.
The former president is also urging that President Ramotar review the CJIA contract to ascertain whether Guyana will be getting value for its money, and if there is any illegality in the project. The former president said on the basis of the explanations given, Ramotar should make a decision on the project’s feasibility. He also stressed that what is important, is that the new CJIA gets built, since its expansion is important to Guyana’s development. He said it is in this context, that it is important too, that Guyana secures the Chinese soft loan for the project.
The World Bank debarred China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), the parent company of China Harbour Engineering Company Limited, from being eligible to bid on road and bridge projects funded by the bank for the period 2009 to 2017.

The blacklisting issue was first raised by the Office of the Contractor General (OCG) of Jamaica. In a release last week, the OCG said it had discovered that CHEC’s parent company CCCC and, by extension, CHEC, have been debarred, since January 2009, by the World Bank, under the bank’s Fraud and Corruption Sanctioning Policy. The OCG said under the terms of the debarment, CCCC and “any firm directly or indirectly controlled by CCCC”, have been declared ineligible to be awarded any World Bank financed contracts that are related to “roads and bridges”, during the period January 12, 2009 to January 12, 2017.
It said that CHEC is a major subsidiary of CCCC, and one of the two entities that is currently listed by CCCC as its “overseas business”, and as such, the debarment automatically extends to CHEC. The World Bank Group has identified corruption as one of the single greatest obstacles to economic and social development in its member countries, inclusive of Jamaica.
However, the bank has been combating corruption and fraud in the public sector to prohibit its member countries from awarding World Bank financed contracts to any of the firms or individuals that the bank has sanctioned under its Fraud and Corruption Policy. In August 2009, CHEC was awarded a US$400 million contract, on a sole-source basis, by the government, to execute its Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme.
Meanwhile, in a release of its own, CHEC Regional Director Zhongdong Tang said the issue of the blacklisting of CCCC is not a new matter.
“The issue raised by the Office of the Contractor General in Jamaica was inherited by CCCC when it took over China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) in 2005. It dates back to 2002 and relates to CRBC, which was invited by the government of the Philippines to bid for a World Bank-funded road project. The project was abolished by the Philippine government in 2006 as a result of disputes between that government and the World Bank,” Tang said in the release.
He maintained that CHEC is not involved in and has never been involved in any activity that has attracted any sanctions by the World Bank. “CHEC itself has never been under any investigation by the World Bank.”
According to Tang, in January 2009, an announcement by the World Bank and subsequent newspaper articles alleged that CRBC was engaged in collusive practices in relation to the World Bank financed road project in the Philippines. According to the announcement, the World Bank decided to impose debarment of seven firms (including three Chinese companies) and one individual for the alleged matter. CRBC received no claim or allegation from the Philippine government or the owner of the project.
CRBC maintained that since January 2009, the World Bank’s allegation against the corporation has no factual or legal merit. CCCC initiated discussions with the World Bank to arrive at a resolution of the issue. At the time of the debarment in January 2009, the sanction was imposed on CRBC and not on CCCC, or any other subsidiary of the company.
The designation of CCCC and its related companies under the debarment came about in July 2011, based on changes made at that time to the World Bank system which prescribed that successor organisations would be subject to the same sanctions applied to the original firm.
In January 2009, CCCC as a joint stock limited company issued a full statement on the matter to the Hong Kong Exchange. Over the past years, CCCC and the World Bank affiliate, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), have become shareholders in an Asian investment fund.