3 days ago
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CEO in the Ministry of Transportation Chester Williams says the ministry follows the government’s procurement rules when purchasing goods and hiring services. Williams made the comment while responding to questions about how vehicle parts are bought for the ministry. He says the process is guided by the established contract and tendering requirements.
Chester Williams, CEO, Ministry of Transport: “I believe that when you deal with public funds and Channel 7 is the master of this, exposing how the government has been wasting money, paying too much for things that they could procure at a less value. My instructions to my people is that when they’re going to get parts, they’re going to get invoices from three different locations. They would normally get from West Track, they get from Special Effects and sometimes they get from Caribbean Motors. I will look at the one that is more cheaper and I will direct that they get it from the cheaper one. So if we’re getting parts from Special Effects, it simply means that it’s because the parts there is cheaper and sometimes the parts are the same. So my interest is to make sure I save the government funds and do not spend it unreasonably for things that we can get cheaper at other locations. And I’m sure that your news director would be extremely happy to see that we’re not squandering public funds.”
Reporter: So it wouldn’t be that all the parts are coming from one, just this specific thing?
Chester Williams, CEO, Ministry of Transport: “That’s not true. We have also procured parts from West Track. We have also gotten parts from Belize Diesel, Caribbean Motors, we also got from Belize Estate. So it’s not true to say that we only get from Special Effects. That’s not true. No.”
Questions were also raised about mechanics hired to work on government vehicles. Williams explained how those services are contracted and the process the ministry follows when repairs are needed.
Chester Williams, CEO, Ministry of Transport: “That is not true again, it depends on the nature of the mechanical work that needs to be done. And again, it also has to do with value for money. Say for example, we have situations where a vehicle went to a specific workshop. I’m not going to say where. And that workshop was charging us something around $5,000 to do some work. We looked at it and we compare the price with the mechanic you’re speaking about. We’re not getting the same work done for $3,000 dollars. So it’s not just to say, again, to go to the specific mechanic, but again, we have to look at the capability of the mechanic in dealing with the extent of repairs that the vehicle need as well as the value that we’re going to pay. Because we can say we can go and pay a street mechanic any amount of money less. But the thing is, how reliable is the vehicle going to be when it comes from a street mechanic? If I have to go to the street mechanic, pay less, and when I’m done from it, two days later I have to take back again to the same one we’re trying to avoid. So again, we have to look at it very carefully and see how best we can get the services for the work that we need to do. At the end of the day these vehicles a vehicles that carry our officers daily and we need to ensure that they’re properly fixed and reliable to be able to get our officers to work and get them back home safe to their families.”
Reporter: So even in the instance of the Punta Gorda vehicle, could you guys not find something in like Dangriga or somewhere closer?
Chester Williams, CEO, Ministry of Transport: “We would always look in a particular area to see if there are mechanics there that can do the work and there are instances where there is just no mechanic there. We have a vehicle right now for the Indigenous People’s Affairs office at a mechanic shop in Punta Gorda. Can’t fix it. We have to move it and have to bring it up. So again, like I said, not any mechanic can work on any specific vehicle and not any mechanic can fix a particular problem. So we have to look at the diagnosis of the vehicle and see if we can find the best mechanic at the most reasonable price to be able to repair the vehicle.”
Williams maintains that purchases and repair services are handled through the required procedures and are not decided informally.
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