Prisoners in Westgate are to get a new hot water system after the Government asked companies to bid for work to replace the ageing infrastructure.

Boilers, storage tanks and pipework will be ripped out and replaced at the Ireland Island North facility.

MPs heard earlier this year that inmates had suffered spells without hot water over a nine-month period, and the prison’s kitchen was closed in June, after a pipe burst and caused the ceiling to collapse.

The request for proposal, published online, said: “The Government of Bermuda is soliciting for quotations from qualified contractors to remove and dispose of the existing boilers, water heaters, storage tanks and all associated pipework, valves, pumps and controls.”

It added that the successful bidder would “design, supply and install a new hot water system”.

The prison’s maximum security and remand areas, as well as the kitchen, laundry and segregation unit were all listed among the locations to be served by the new system.

The RFP was issued last month with a submission deadline of September 18.

Meal preparation for the prison was moved to the Co-Ed Facility in St George’s and the Royal Bermuda Regiment also offered its kitchens to help out after the June kitchen leak.

Wayne Caines, the Minister of National Security, said after the nine months of water problems were revealed in the House of Assembly, it was a “false narrative” that the prison was “imploding”.

He explained that improvements made in the prison service included a new industrial water heater and an additional industrial washing machine, which were expected to be in service by July.

Mr Caines said that telephone and alarm systems were upgraded and replacement CCTV cameras, as well as additional cameras, had also been installed.