JDIP controversy continues

CONTROVERSY continues to bedevil the US$400-million Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP).

Yesterday, the Office of the Contractor General (OCG) launched a special investigation into the circumstances surrounding the award of the multibillion-dollar contract to China Harbour Engineering Limited (CHEC).

The OCG said the probe follows the failure of permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Works, Dr Alwin Hales, to substantiate the claims by portfolio minister Mike Henry that "the US $340-million loan being used to fund the JDIP came from the China EXIM Bank, with a precondition for a Chinese firm of their choice to undertake the programme".

According to the oversight body, concerns were heightened following the minister's public pronouncement that it was the China Exim Bank that had imposed the selection of CHEC upon the Jamaican Government.