00:00With the award of contracts previously halted by the Office of Procurement Regulation now cleared for approval pending the passage
00:08of amendments to the Procurement Act,
00:11while Minister in the Ministry of Housing, Philip Alexander, addresses this and other housing procurement issues in this report by
00:18Renessa Cutting.
00:20The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Amendment Bill heads to the Senate on Monday,
00:26where it is expected to be passed with the government's simple majority,
00:30amid outcry from various stakeholders that the move undermines the exact purpose of the legislation.
00:37Among the amendments is one which seeks to limit the powers of the Office of the Procurement Regulator,
00:43removing its ability to suspend, halt or otherwise restrain any procurement proceeding on the basis of a complaint or an
00:52investigation.
00:53Could we expect now that the awarding of the contracts that were halted by the OPR would now be moving
00:58forward?
01:00That's a tricky way you ask that question.
01:03The projects that want to be built will be going forward.
01:08Will it be going forward in the same exact manner as the original contracts,
01:1311 contracts that made up the $3.4 billion award?
01:17I don't know.
01:18Some contractors have already moved on, pledged resources in other projects and other things.
01:25So what we will be doing is putting it back out for tender.
01:31The same Markano Quarry, Canada Heights, that is going to be coming out as a request for proposals for contractors
01:39to come and bid.
01:39We are going to do it in a very open and a very transparent manner and we will be delivering
01:45houses.
01:46We are aiming with everything for that 20,000 house mark.
01:50The bill also seeks to exempt public-private partnerships for public housing from normal procurement procedures
01:57and seeks to change the definition of public-private partnership arrangement to public-private partnership
02:04defined as any agreement, contract, partnership or working relationship between a public body and a person
02:12for the purpose of financing, constructing, operating or managing public property, end quote.
02:19Minister Alexander says the goal is to deliver more affordable houses at a faster rate.
02:25Our Prime Minister has had a very hefty goal for us to deliver and we are still very focused on
02:33delivering that.
02:34All I can say to you now is this, that these changes respects oversight, it respects transparency, it respects procurement.
02:47It is the United National Congress that brought this law in the first place.
02:52PNM set it up badly and it is a weaponized tool that can be used politically that is affecting our
02:59ability to deliver houses.
03:00I am the one that is on the ground, that is taking people and showing them houses and saying,
03:05this that sold for $1.2 million should not cost $500,000.
03:09I am the one that is saying it.
03:11So I am on record over and over and over.
03:13So I won't stand for us doing the same thing.
03:17What we want, I want to give you an example.
03:20The people of Bath Street, I went Bath Street and the people are waiting on pumps and a plumbing system
03:25and leaking roofs.
03:27Procurement is keeping it back.
03:28The minister says minimum wage earners will soon be able to afford HTC homes.
03:35We actually have on paper a replacement project for Macano, Canada Heights.
03:42I went Canada Heights and saw those abandoned buildings.
03:46We've already put together all of the information to replace that and at a price that a minimum wage earner
03:54could buy a home.
03:55And that's where this Prime Minister, the Honourable Kamala Fassad-Bissessa, wants us to go.
04:00The Housing Development Corporation has to return to its original core remit of providing high-quality, low-cost housing solutions.
04:10Renasa Cutting, TV6 News.
