Through its first three and a half years, the Briceno Administration has by and large managed to avoid any public bickering at the cabinet level. And that's what makes Julius Espat's scathing criticism of Economic Development CEO Osmond Martinez yesterday so remarkable. It's a Cabinet level attack on the Prime Minister's CEO - and it came just short of accusing Martinez of triggering the stress that led to Espat's death from a heart attack.
That's a tall accusation, which, we'll repeat - seems a bit much for a political newcomer to do to a 6 term area representative.
But, the allegation stands and that caused Jules Vasquez to go back into yesterday's event at the Haulover bridge which did yield tell tale signs of the tension between the Ministry of Infrastructure development and Housing and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development:
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"But we must give credit to his zeal, to his energy and sometimes to his impatience in getting things done. Probably there's a lot of things I need to learn from you Julius, because he's always telling me, "you have a lot of patience!""
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH
"The boss said today I am impatient. Maybe, but that's the only way you'll get things done."
And Espat says what he and his staff want to get done urgently is the Belcan bridge:
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH
"Priority for us is the Belcan, We have been signaling it for three years now. If somebody gets hurt, it's going to be a problem. We have been signaling it for three years now. Our engineers just came under the bridge again. And it's obvious. The bridge that fell in Baltimore can give you an idea what can happen. It's a smaller scale. We don't have the level of traffic, but it can happen if we have enough money to spend on other things. I think we should spend on priority projects- that being one."
And this is the subject of ongoing tension with the Ministry of Finance - which has expressed concern to the MIDH about the same contractors being awarded all the big projects:
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH
"Our job is to make sure that when the procurement process is done, that we follow the international financial institutions guidelines. They are the ones that lend the money and they're the ones that establish who can and who cannot bid. For example, M&M construction, in the past could not have bid on this bridge. They would not have been able to qualify, but they qualified this time because they have spent years building bridges."
"We will not allow, at least if I am at the them anybody to bid on a project that does not follow the procurement minimum qualifications that the IFI's established. And if anybody is mad with that, so be it."
Jules Vasquez
"But this was the same reason the PUP vilified Imer Hernandez, but the fact is that many of those IFI level bids, he was the only one who pre-qualified because of his track record."
"What I'm saying is that you create an institutional behemoth, once..."
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH
"We didn't create it."
Jules Vasquez
"No, no, no. But I'm saying that you are creating one now of that's the criticism."
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH
"I'll tell you who can beat on a bridge right now. Right now, at that level. You have all the road contractors, Cisco Construction, Imer can bid, right now without even thinking about it, they can pass the pre-qualification process. So that's two. You have Bannman Roadway can do it. You have Teichroeb that I believe can bid, You have one of the gentlemen from Spanish Lookout that can bid, and now Roque can bid. So you have six. I think you might have a seventh one. And so everybody has an equal opportunity to be able to win a bid."
"Who are the. Other contractors you're speaking of?"
Jules Vasquez
"I heard that they are some preferred by the Ministry of Finance. I heard some like maybe those who did the bridge in San Pedro."
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH
"Maybe, you need to send me a text."
Jules Vasquez
"I need I need to send you. I think I'll send them from the guys who sent me."
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH
"All right."
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