The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

and NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

The opening of bids for the New Providence landfill’s management and remediation contract has been delayed by 24 hours until this morning, Tribune Business can reveal.

The Government’s Tenders Board was supposed to meet yesterday at 10am to open the offers in the presence of all bidders.

However, Kenred Dorsett, minister of the environment and housing, confirmed to Tribune Business that the bid opening had been pushed back until 10am today.

Mr Dorsett said: “I just got a notice from the Ministry of Finance that the Tenders Board will meet tomorrow to open the bids. Tomorrow, my team will meet with the Tenders Board and we will find out how many bids were actually submitted.”

No explanation has been given for the 24-hour delay, with interested parties said to have “burned the midnight oil” to meet the Government’s tight bid deadline and submit satisfactory offers.

Private sector groups had been given eight days to submit bids to takeover the New Providence landfill’s management and remediation. Mr Dorsett revealed to Tribune Business late last month that the  Government was planning to issue a structured tender “as soon as possible”.

The tight timeline for submitting bids, with interested parties effectively given six working days, was thought to favour Bahamian groups, such as the wholly-Bahamian Waste Resources Development Group (WRDG) consortium.

The 10 Bahamian waste service provider members have partnered with Providence Advisors and its chief executive, Kenwood Kerr, and will likely be able to draw on their previous research and proposals in forming a credible bid.

However, local waste management industry sources previously complained to Tribune Business that the bid deadlines gave too little time for interested parties to conduct proper due diligence on the New Providence landfill following the recent blaze, especially since its remediation is one of the Government’s requirements.

In its tender advertisement, the Government said:” “The Government is inviting proposals from the private sector relating to potential investment, remediation and management of operations of the Harrold Road [Tonique Williams Highway] landfill facility,” the advert states.

“The Government’s long-term waste management strategies include reforms which seek to introduce efficiencies in waste management at various facilities throughout the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.”

Renew Bahamas walked away from its New Providence landfill management contract in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, citing security and safety concerns amid the absence of electricity supply, and a spate of thefts and shootings.

It had previously been seeking to renegotiate its management contract and associated financial terms with the Christie administration, having revealed to Tribune Business it had been incurring continuous, heavy losses.

The Government subsequently charged that Renew Bahamas had used Hurricane Matthew as an excuse to pull-out, having realised that its business model - which depended almost exclusively on the sale and export of materials recycled from the landfill - was not viable or sustainable.

The Baha Mar opening and general election has intensified pressure on the Government to resolve the landfill’s woes, which were brought to the fore again last  month when Jubilee Gardens residents were forced out of their homes after a massive fire at the landfill blanketed the community in thick smoke.