NewsWhore
10-12-2009, 03:50 PM
Lawyer Marino Vinicio "Vincho" Castillo, who heads the National Ethics Commission, complained yesterday that Brazilian firm Andrade Gutierrez, the company building the dam at Monte Grande, has overvalued its costs by as much as 800%. According to Castillo, when the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INDRHI) considered handing out the contract without bidding, the costs that were presented for the designs of the hydroelectric works and auxiliary constructions was US$32 million, while the estimate from other experts put the figure at just US$3.5 million.
According to the lawyer, Andrade Gutierrez overvalued the costs, even in comparison with the budget presented to the INDRHI when the latter was considering letting the contract without bids. Among other items, Castillo said that the phase of geotechnical studies was budgeted at US$34.2 million, but in the no-bid offer the price was just US$7.4 million, a 362% difference according to Hoy newspaper. The head of the Ethics Commission added that an unnamed engineer refused to sign the invoices because she said it was "a farce". Castillo added that there was a line item for US$30 million for the purchase of materials outside the budget.
According to Castillo, the information on these irregularities has been in his hands since last year, when he met with former INDRHI director Hector Pimentel, the Minister of Hacienda and Presidential legal advisor Abel Rodriguez del Orbe. Pimentel wanted the project to be handed out without public bidding because of the dangers of flooding from the Sabana Yegua dam. This proposal was rejected when, in a later meeting between the President and the company executives, they were told that a project of this size (more than US$200 million) could not be granted without public bids. The company accepted this but asked to be reimbursed RD$15 million it had invested in the construction camps and the access road. However, when the accounts were revised, the company accepted RD$7 million, which Castillo said, "means that the amount was probably closer to RD$5 million".
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#4)
According to the lawyer, Andrade Gutierrez overvalued the costs, even in comparison with the budget presented to the INDRHI when the latter was considering letting the contract without bids. Among other items, Castillo said that the phase of geotechnical studies was budgeted at US$34.2 million, but in the no-bid offer the price was just US$7.4 million, a 362% difference according to Hoy newspaper. The head of the Ethics Commission added that an unnamed engineer refused to sign the invoices because she said it was "a farce". Castillo added that there was a line item for US$30 million for the purchase of materials outside the budget.
According to Castillo, the information on these irregularities has been in his hands since last year, when he met with former INDRHI director Hector Pimentel, the Minister of Hacienda and Presidential legal advisor Abel Rodriguez del Orbe. Pimentel wanted the project to be handed out without public bidding because of the dangers of flooding from the Sabana Yegua dam. This proposal was rejected when, in a later meeting between the President and the company executives, they were told that a project of this size (more than US$200 million) could not be granted without public bids. The company accepted this but asked to be reimbursed RD$15 million it had invested in the construction camps and the access road. However, when the accounts were revised, the company accepted RD$7 million, which Castillo said, "means that the amount was probably closer to RD$5 million".
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#4)