Dear Editor,
In an interview with the Government Information Agency (GINA) on January12, Geoffrey Vaughn, Coordinator of the Work Services Group (WSG) of the Ministry of Public Works (MPW) expressed MPW’s dissatisfaction with the pace of construction of the East Bank, Demerara four-lane road extension after its three contracts ended on December 31, 2014. He feels that completion of the project now rests with the contractors putting in extra hours to meet a new deadline which has been set as March 2015.
There was no viable alternative means to complete the project after the contracts expired, and therefore MPW decided to extend the expired three contracts but in the process set an unrealistic completion deadline as the contracts are in varying stages of completion with at least two of them unlikely to be completed until next year, based on the work on hand and the current rate of construction progress.
It is a cardinal rule that construction of a project does not start until the utilities (electricity, water, gas, telephone) are relocated/removed from the site and that all regulatory requirements and acquisitions have been satisfactorily completed. After some three years GT&T is still struggling to remove its land lines from the work areas and this is unlikely to be completed any time soon, while DDL is still negotiating with MPW for an access to its properties located on both sides of the road with minimum traffic disruption when the new road is completed.
The contractors started experiencing problems of one sort or another since the project commenced. As a result, work slippages such as missed deadlines to complete excavations and backfills for the carriageways developed. The slippages worsened as adverse weather conditions and traffic disruptions slowed construction progress, while cash flow dried up for one of the contractors.
Now that the contracts’ completion dates have expired, Mr Vaughn has acknowledged that the contractors had issues which adversely affected their performance and in an attempt to complete the project within a reasonable time he is now exhorting them to put in extra hours to speed up construction progress by working at night, increasing their workforce and equipment and working overtime and weekends. At this juncture it is reasonable to inquire where were the MPW and Mr Vaughn when the slippages of these contracts were occurring, particularly in their early stages of construction, since the suggestions he is now making if they were implemented then would have made a lot of difference to sort out many of the early problems the contractors faced, and would have no doubt got the project back on track with the people getting use of their roadway as of January 1, 2015. It is fortunate that he has at last seen the light of day, but it’s too late as he attempts to close the gate after the horse has bolted.
It is evident that the contractors at this late stage of their obligations have no intention of speeding up construction unless they are adequately compensated to do so. The government is balking at doing this since as a last resort it intends to rein them into compliance with its liquidating damages trump cards.
In my discussions with one of the contractors he told me that he was in the red with his contract, and with liquidating damages hanging over his head he has no intention of expending additional funds beyond that of his bid which he would be unable to recoup to speed up his work unless the government is willing to foot the bill to fast track construction for a speedy completion of the project, and so far he has not received any such hint.
It therefore becomes clearer why there is no way this project will be completed by March 2015, despite the assurances by Mr Vaughn.
This project was poorly planned and was executed with little or no oversight of construction progress by MPW. Now that the contracts have expired and the works are in varying stages of completion, MPW has decided to entrust Mr Vaughn with the task of closely monitoring the project to ensure that it is completed on or before March 2015. However, no pronouncement was made as to his fate should he fail to deliver without excuses.
Failures by these contractors to complete their contracts on time and within budget have been legendary. The evidence of their performances on the Hope Canal, Georgetown Sea Defence, East Coast Highway, Amaila Falls Access Road and GPL facility at Vreed-en-Hoop attest to this. It is rather perplexing that despite their failures to perform they continue to receive lucrative government contracts.
Yours faithfully,
Charles Sohan