A $3.5 million dollar contract to improve Harrold Road has been removed from the stalled New Providence Road Improvement Project, and is being offered exclusively to Bahamian contractors, Minister of Public Works and Utilities Bradley Roberts said Tuesday.
Mr Roberts said that a total of five local firms have returned prequalification applications, which are presently being evaluated by his ministry's technical officers.
As he stated in a press conference on February 13, he said, bid documents will be issued to the prequalified contractors, for a planned project completion date in "early 2004."
Mr Roberts said he issued the release in response to an "erroneous and blatantly wrong" Nassau Guardian front page article of April 8, entitled, "Argentine firm may get $3.5m road contract."
As for the New Providence Road Improvement Project – which was abruptly halted when the original contractors went bankrupt – Mr Roberts said, the ministry's Design and Project Management Consultants, Halcrow Group Limited and Mott MacDonald, are "working on the preparation of final design and bid documents for issuance to the sole prequalified firm M/S Jose Cartellone of Argentina."
Provided negotiations with the Argentine firm prove successful, Mr Roberts continued, it was expected that a contract would be entered into by September of this year, with a 21-month project completion date.
Planned improvements to Prince Charles Drive would "be targeted during the June, 2004 school closure," he said, and were not expected to be completed by June of this year, as the Guardian reported.
Mr Roberts said that the removal of the Harrold Road project from the NPRIP was "clearly intended for the Bahamian Contractors to become familiar with and meet the international standards and specifications."
By Sean Inniss, The Nassau Guardian
