-process only 15% completed after one year
Not Richard Bainie
MORE than one year since receiving a contract for the construction of rapeseed sea defenses in Andrews, Essequibo Coast, a contractor, BK International, despite receiving more than $ 80 million, has completed only 15 percent of this project.
This was discovered by a Minister in the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, during a site visit in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), on Sunday. Based on documents viewed by the Guyana Chronicle, the contract was awarded in the amount of $ 124.8 million under the former administration of A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU + AFC). And, of this amount, about 70 percent has already been paid to the contractor. Slate was the project to begin officially on January 21, 2020, with a seven-month period, ending on August 21, 2020.
However, Minister Indar was informed by the engineer for District Two, district one, Saeed Mohamed, that the said contract has been further extended to December 31, 2020. Even with the initial and extended deadline being extended pass, Indar also informed the district one engineer that of the 1,000 feet of sea defense work contracted to carry out, only 160 feet of the work has been completed so far.
A representative from BK International, who was present at the site, explained that the delay was due to the contractor diverting equipment to another site located in Mahaicony, on the East Coast of Demerara, due to the urgency of the works there. The representative also lamented the difficulties in sourcing materials due to restrictions put in place to reduce the spread of the new coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).
Indar responded to this by saying that when contractors bid for and were awarded contracts, they did so based on their list of equipment available to carry out the work within the agreed time of contract. Therefore, in this case, adequate equipment should have been available to carry out the work at Andrews.
The minister denied the contractor’s flawed attitude towards carrying out the essential work that is urgently needed, explaining that it is at the expense of the residents, who are left to suffer. In view of this and other delayed projects being undertaken by BK, the minister explained that he intends to take drastic action against this contractor.
It has recently been reported that the government has terminated the multi-million dollar contracts for the construction of Yarrowkabra High School and the reconstruction of St. High School. Roses.
In two separate letters, Attorney General Anil Nandlall informed both contractors, BK International Inc. and Courtney Benn Contracting Services Ltd., regarding the termination of their contracts.
In the case of BK, the former APNU + AFC government had entered into a contract with the company through the Ministry of Education, for the construction of Yarrowkabra High School, just off the Soesdyke-Linden Highway. The contract was fixed at $ 826.5 million, and the scheduled date for completion of the work is March 12, 2021.
“To date, your company has only completed five per cent of the work schedule. As a result, your company has breached the basic terms of the contract terms, and as a result, the Government of Guyana hereby exercises its right to terminate the contract immediately, ”the Attorney General said in a letter to the company.
The grounds for termination were cited as the failure to comply with the work schedule, and the undue delay in completing the work on the project. The government, according to Nandlall, will activate the provisions in the contract regarding enforcing 10 percent of the contract amount as fixed compensation, and waiving the performance security as a result of the company’s fundamental breach of the contract.
Similarly, the government enforced the same provisions on Courtney Benn Contracting Services Ltd, as the company has only completed nine percent of the scheduled work on rebuilding St. High School Roses.