The questionable award of a contract by CGX to GAICO Construction Company has caused many to challenge the ethics of the oil company. CGX is a Canada-based company that has come to Guyana to operate in the offshore oil fields.
In recent months CGX began construction of a deep water harbour in Berbice. The harbour is intended to facilitate CGX vessels operating offshore.
The early works on the approaches to the waterfront were conducted by BK International. As those works neared construction CGX put out tenders for construction of the deep water harbour.
After the bids were submitted CGX announced that none of the tenders satisfied the requirements. The company, however, did not request new tenders. Instead the news came that the contract had been awarded to GAICO Construction Company.
Village Voice learned there was no record of GAICO Construction being among those who submitted bids when the tender was first advertised.
The award of this contract caught many by surprise. GAICO did not have a record of conducting such works. The road work contracts that it executed collapsed after a few months forcing the application of the defects liability.
However, investigations revealed that GAICO Construction Company is headed by Mr. Komal Singh who is the brother-in-law of CGX head in Guyana, Dr. Suresh Narine.
This issue raises speculation about whether there was insider trading of information between CGX and GAICO Construction.
