By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

and NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

A Cabinet Minister yesterday said the Government was planning to issue a structured tender, seeking proposals to manage and remediate the New Providence landfill, “as soon as possible”.

Kenred Dorsett, minister of the environment and housing, told Tribune Business: “An RFP [Request for Proposal] is being structured now, and that will be advanced to deal with the total operation and remediation of the site.

“That is what is being completed. Everyone will be able to participate because we want to make sure that we are comparing apples to apples. We’re having a structured programme so that everyone could submit, based on the parameters, and then we could move forward.”

When asked when the RFP would be issued, Mr Dorsett told this newspaper: “Hopefully as soon as possible.”

The Minister’s comments represent the first indication that the Government is putting the landfill management contract out to public tender via an open, structured ‘beauty contest’ process where all contenders will know the rules and criteria under which they are bidding.

However, the decision to structure a proper RFP process now raises immediate questions as to why the Christie administration did not choose this process for the landfill four to five years ago.

It instead ultimately signed the ill-fated management agreement with Renew Bahamas, despite many observers wondering why it had not structured an RFP - the process that was used for the BEC management contract and the second mobile communications license.

The landfill, as a publicly-owned asset with massive health and environmental implications, was seen as ideally suited for an RFP, with the Government’s selection of Renew Bahamas criticised for lacking transparency.

Many Bahamians, especially those living in Jubilee Gardens and other communities living near the landfill, will likely wonder whether much grief, cost and disruption could have been avoided had the Christie administration gone the RFP route earlier.

Other parties interested in taking over the landfill’s management, the wholly-Bahamian Waste Resources Development Group (WRDG) consortium, also complained at the time that they were asked to bid on substantially different terms from Renew Bahamas.

WRDG, which now has 10 Bahamian waste service provider members, is among those who have submitted bids to take over the landfill’s management following the recent blaze. A rival group also has a Bahamian component in the shape of Providence Advisors and its chief executive, Kenwood Kerr.

Tribune Business sources yesterday said the Government had yet to formally respond to bidders, and notify them of its intentions and how it plans to proceed.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one said: “We’re still waiting; the Government said everything was under review. The smoke is abating a bit, but it’s still a problem on some nights depending on the weather.”

Another contact added: “There’s not been a word. We haven’t heard a thing. Submissions are in and being looked at.

“I know a couple more people have come in from away to take a look. Every fire has been the same. People come in to see the opportunity. We are where we are.”

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 imminent 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 this month when Jubilee Gardens residents were forced out of their homes after a massive fire at the landfill blanketed the community in thick smoke.