A $14 million purchase for 50 Lidar speed guns to be used by the Police Service to ticket offenders who go over the speed limit has come to a halt.
Confirmation came from Vehicle Management Corporation of T&T (Vmcott) CEO Ramesh Lakhan yesterday.
He said Vmcott completed its exercise for the tendering of the guns since last August but had been “awaiting guidance from the Ministry of Works and Transport on how to proceed.
Vmcott could not make these decisions on its own with its board of directors. “I wrote to the ministry’s permanent secretary Verna Johnson asking for her review. It is still pending approval,” Lakhan added.
Asked if there has been a stall on the purchase, Lakhan said: “Yes. There has been a stall. No guns were purchased. The final result is that Vmcott is waiting approval for the tendering process for the procurement of these guns.
“The recommendations and evaluations were made. Vmcott’s board approved the tenders committee’s recommendations as to who they would have chosen to go with the tender,” Lakhan said.
Lakhan said in 2014, Cabinet mandated Vmcott to purchase the guns on behalf of the TTPS.
In light of this, when the Traffic and Highway Patrol Branch go out on the roadways to record the speed of drivers they would only use six Lidar guns, which the TTPS had purchased last year.
Yesterday, Works and Transports Minister Fitzgerald Hinds did not respond to a text message, questioning what was delaying the purchase of the guns, when the guns will be purchased and how many guns the TTPS would use to monitor drivers who were exceeding the 80 kmph.
Brent Batson, director of Arrive Alive, confirmed that the Police Service had in its possession six Lidar guns with full accessories.
“The Commissioner of Police only bought six but they could not use it until it was endorsed by the minister (Hinds),” Batson said.
Former transport minister Stephen Cadiz blamed “bureaucracy, red tape and inefficiency of the public service” for the outstanding purchase.
“It is unbelieveable. We went ahead and did everything to purchase it but it just went on and on and on.”
Cadiz, who approached Cabinet to purchase the guns due to the growing number of road fatalities, said when it was decided to purchase, a sub-committee was set up between Vmcott and the Police Service.
“Vmcott’s sole purpose was to do the procurement, with the TTPS doing the selection of the guns. An amendment to the Motor Vehicle Authority Act was passed in both Houses. A budget was approved for it,” Cadiz said.
The budget Cadiz said was $14 million.
He said in 2014, a tender went out by Vmcott to purchase 400 radar guns for the police with six companies expressing an interest.
A source said: “What happened was the tenders that came in did not match the amount of money that was estimated to purchase the 400 radar guns and Vmcott was asked to re-tender for 50 lidar guns which was projected to cost less.”
A second tender went out last August for 50 guns. Six companies bid in the re-tendering process.
Cadiz said the issue the Police Service had with the radar guns, which are normally outfitted in vehicles of police officers, was their inaccuracy in recording speed.
“The radar readings were interrupted by some other signal and people were prosecuted on this. The Lidar, however, was proven to be a far more accurate system which is a hand-held device.”
Cadiz said while he was glad the guns were now being used by the police “something should have been done with the reckless driving.
“What I don’t understand is that there was a budget allocated and we should have been able to buy those 50 units for the TTPS. I am disappointed. It’s sad to see that 47 lives were lost on the nation’s roads and we are still delaying in buying these guns,” he added.
Features of the Lidar gun
• Greater range.
• Consistent target tracking.
• Faster target acquisition.