Shine A Light : ‘Tender awarded to Party Conduit’

A consultant, who was awarded the tender to carry out reconstruc­tion work post Tropical Cyclone Winston in 2016, was a conduit for the FijiFirst party.

Minister for Finance Biman Prasad made the comment while responding to questions on the transparency of the tender pro­cess.

In the TC Winston articles cov­ered by Shine a Light last month, several issues were highlighted: lack of transparency, conflict of interests, and no cost control.

“You talked about conflict of in­terest, there were people sitting on the constitutional commission like one of the consultants,” Mr Prasad said.

“He was also the FijiFirst fun­draiser. He was sitting on the boards, like the Fiji National Provident Fund.”

We had reached out to the owner of the engineering firm that was awarded the consultancy contract. He declined to make a comment.

“If you are talking about con­flicts of interest, of course there was conflicts of interest or pos­sible conflicts of interest,” Mr Prasad said.

In one of the Shine a Light col­umns titled “Concerns Arise Over Transparency, Conflicts of Inter­est” published on February 4, 2024, we had only highlighted two cases of conflict of interests:

n $2 million design and build contract awarded to Chands En­gineering Consultants Ltd to re­construct Kade Village School on Koro Island. Chands Engineering was also one of the five lead con­sultants who managed the school reconstruction project; and

n Awarding of construction con­tracts to companies belonging to hardware merchants – Roofing and Profiles (Fiji) Ltd, owned by RC Manubhai and Company Pte Ltd; Vinod Patel Works Pte Lim­ited, and Vinod Patel & Group Limited.

“Having been in the Opposition for eight years, we knew what was happening, some may have gone through the tender process,” Mr Prasad said.

“You set up a unit (Construction Implementation Unit) within your ministry, who has a direct report­ing line to the minister. One per­son, who is no longer with the Government.”

Without revealing the person’s name, Mr Prasad said there were many allegations against the per­son who managed the CIU.

Mr Prasad did not divulge the nature of the allegations.

However, Mr Prasad confirms there will be no investigations into the procurement and awarding of tenders by the CIU on the TC Winston projects, or Government-funded projects.

Mr Prasad admitted $360 million utilised for the TC Winston projects was exorbitant, and those awarded tenders made money.

He said processes were legally followed, which gave no room for an inquiry.

However, the awarding of tenders to some contractors and consultants were questionable.

“What has been done, has been done,” Mr Prasad said.

“Instead of us focusing on time to get a forensic audit, where it’s obvious that corruption, mismanagement and fraud has taken place, that will be dealt with by proper authorities, and some of them are being dealt with.”

Minister for Finance Biman Prasad also referenced the Nausori Health Centre, saying it was rundown, and should have been upgraded. Photo: Ronald Kumar

PAST DEVELOPMENTS

The Ministry of Finance, under the leadership of Mr Prasad, has taken steps to ensure there are no repetition of the past – wasting of taxpayers’ money.

He referenced the construction of the hospital in Keyasi, Sigatoka, questioning the rationale behind the development.

“Building a hospital in Keyasi, what was the priority... should it have been to upgrade the hospital in Sigatoka, or no,” Mr Prasad said.

“The population in Keyasi is not that many, our ambulance could have been put there, that could have saved millions of dollars, and we upgrade Sigatoka Hospital.

“It was because a consultant came and thought we should do it this way.”

On February 15, 2024, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and his government entourage visited Keyasi, where the PM officiated at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Keyasi Town Development Project.

Keiyasi is one of the four growth centers in Fiji that is part of the Ministry of Local Government’s urban planning and management programme, which is being ear­marked as a town.

Mr Prasad also referred to the $65 million Queen Elizabeth Drive Road upgrade in Nasese.

“Was that a priority?

“People were talking about the maternity unit, what if the $65 million went there to upgrade and put all the machines, provide more support to the doctors and nurses, what was the priority?”

REFORMS

Mr Prasad had disbanded the CIU when he took office last year, saying there was no need for the unit.

He said the ministry had adopted a more stringent approach, ensur­ing proper identification of what should be the priority areas and where taxpayers money should be used.

This, he said, was solidified by the Public Sector Investment Pro­gramme (PSIP) that was approved by Cabinet in April last year.

The guidelines describe general principles governing good plan­ning, procurement and manage­ment.

“This will assist in future deci­sion making on projects, to be done taking into consideration value for money and better re­turns,” he said.

“This guideline (PISP) will look at the social impact, economic im­pact, the environment, adminis­trative and financial, fiscal analy­sis and management of funds.”

Ten entities are piloting the PISP guideline, including the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Housing and Local Develop­ment, Ministry of Agriculture and Waterways, Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development, Min­istry of Sugar and Multi-Ethnic Affairs, Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development, Water Au­thority of Fiji, Ministry of Public Works, Disaster Management.

“The priority for the next three years, is essentially getting the ba­sics right, improving infrastruc­ture,” Mr Prasad said.

“Our focus is to move ahead and make sure that we prepare and do the right thing through the right processes.”

The PSIP is spearheaded by the Ministry of Finance’s National Planning Office (Budget Divison).

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