The A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is demanding answers from the Government over the continued delay in selecting a contractor to salvage the MV Barima, more than two months after the vessel sank in one of Guyana’s deadliest maritime disasters.
APNU Member of Parliament Ganesh Mahipaul delivered the statement, questioning why the Government has yet to publicly identify a contractor or provide a mobilisation date despite the completion of the bidding process.
“September has ended without a publicly announced contractor and without a clear mobilisation date. That is the problem. This is not simply another government procurement exercise. People died. Families are still waiting. Some families have not been able to lay their loved ones to rest.”
The MV Barima sank on July 18 while travelling from Georgetown to Port Kaituma. Government figures indicate that 76 people survived and 73 bodies were recovered, while a number of people remain missing. President Irfaan Ali has said approximately 179 passengers and crew were believed to have been aboard.
The wreck remains submerged off Guyana’s northwest coast in waters approximately 13 to 15 metres deep.
The salvage process has already faced several stages of procurement. Expressions of Interest closed on August 14, after which three companies submitted financial bids. The bids were publicly opened on September 8, with BK International Inc. submitting the lowest bid of approximately G$1.034 billion, followed by Industrial Fabrication Inc. at approximately G$1.895 billion and Netherlands-based KMS B.V. at approximately G$2.035 billion.
Yet, almost a month after the bids were opened, the Government had still not publicly announced the successful bidder.
President Ali said on September 24 that technical teams were still evaluating the bids before a contractor could be selected. He defended the public tender process, saying it was intended to ensure transparency and prevent accusations that the Government had personally selected a company.
APNU, however, argues that transparency and urgency are not mutually exclusive.
“I am not calling for procurement rules to be bypassed. I am calling for urgency within the rules.”
Mahipaul said the prolonged process was particularly troubling because the wreck is not merely the site of a tragedy but potentially an important source of evidence for the Commission of Inquiry.
Government’s terms of reference for the salvage operation require the successful contractor to protect and document forensic evidence that could assist the Commission of Inquiry.
The APNU therefore questioned whether further delays could undermine the recovery of evidence while families continue to wait for answers.
“The sunken vessel is also directly relevant to understanding what happened and preserving evidence for the Commission of Inquiry. The Government’s own terms for the salvage process recognised the importance of preserving evidence for that investigation.”
The party’s latest intervention comes after Mahipaul had previously criticised the Government’s decision to use a competitive procurement process, arguing that the scale and circumstances of the disaster warranted faster action. APNU had also questioned why emergency procurement was not considered, given the urgency surrounding the recovery of the wreck.
The APNU is the second-largest opposition party in Guyana’s 65-member National Assembly, holding 12 seats. The opposition benches comprise 29 MPs—16 from We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), 12 from APNU and one from the Forward Guyana Movement (FGM), while the governing PPP/C holds 36 seats.
The partnership’s criticism therefore comes from the parliamentary opposition as the Government faces continued pressure over the handling of the disaster.
The APNU statement also pointed to President Ali’s recent call for a new culture of “safety, infrastructure, leadership and responsibility.”
“Leadership and responsibility must also mean acting with urgency when families are waiting for answers.”
The Government has maintained that the salvage process is proceeding through the established procurement system and that technical personnel are evaluating the bids.
But with October now underway, the central questions raised by APNU remain unanswered:
“Where is the urgency? Where is the contractor? Where is the mobilisation date?”
And for families still waiting to recover loved ones and for investigators awaiting access to the wreck, the passage of another week means another week beneath the water—and another week without answers.
