KRALENDIJK- Party leader of the Partido Demokrátiko Boneriano (PDB) believes that the tender process for a system for collecting the new tourist tax has not been transparent.

That is what Abraham said during a Public Meeting of the Island Council on Tuesday evening. Abraham hopes to get concrete answers from commissioner Hennyson Thielman, but that turned out to be an illusion. 

Thielman was unable to provide the Island Council with the name of the company that was ultimately selected to provide this service. “I will ask TCB Director Miles Mercera to provide information about that,” Thielman said to Abraham’s annoyance. “May I remind you that as the Commisioner of Tourism you are the boss of Mr Mercera and not the other way around?” Abraham asked Thielman.

Complaint

Abraham asked his questions, among other things, in response to a letter that the law firm Van Eps sent on behalf of the Waddencard Foundation to the Tourism Corporation Bonaire (TCB) in which the organization is accused of not having observed the general principles of procurement law. 

A striking detail here is that there are more parties than only the Waddencard Foundation who feel treated unfairly by the TCB and indirectly the Public Entity Bonaire (OLB) when it comes to this specific tender. 

At least two different parties strongly suspect that the TCB has made improper use of preliminary work made by these parties to set up the development of the system and the actual collection.

Not transparent

There is also irritation within the Island Council about the fact that there is no clarity at all about which party was ultimately selected, based on what criteria and the subsequent price tag. “I can assure you that this was done objectively on the basis of an comparative matrix,” said Thielman, although he was unable to provide concrete information on that point either.

Apart from the lack of information about the development of the system and the name of the selected provider, it is also unknown which price agreements have been made with the provider concerned. This would involve significant costs that could run into the thousands of tons per year.

Abraham now wants to receive all information from Commissioner Thielman, such as the criteria that have been set in advance, the total list of providers and also information about the final choice, as well as the content of the agreements that have been made.