Dear Editor,
With all the emphasis being placed on the elimination of sub-standard works done by contractors contracted by the Government one would expect that technical specifications and information supplied in the bill of quantities for contractors to follow would adhere to relevant standards or at least make sense. Sadly, successive Governments have ignored this basic requirement and documents with confusing and senseless instructions to contractors are still the order of the day.
For example in the solar power field a disconnect between a 12v battery bank and 2000w inverter must have at least a 166 amps rating but multiple contracts recently handed out in Region 9 required one with a 60 amp rating which in reality would immediately trip or burn when the inverter is loaded. Like-wise a 60 amp disconnect is needed between a 60 amp charge controller and battery bank but a 15 amp one is required in the document which would either trip or burn. Electrical standards are not being followed in the solar power installations, anyone with an electrical idea is sub-contracted by contractors to do their installations which results in different styles and appearance in work for the identical contracts and is the main reason for the failure of these installations shortly after completion. In some cases AC circuit breakers are installed in place of DC ones.
In the house-wiring section most instructions are not written in electrical language and do not follow the electrical code but are rather confusing and in many cases contradict the electrical standards of Guyana. For instance one recent contract given out in Region 9 states that installation of the meter circuit must be done to Lethem Power Company standards instead of the Electrical Inspectorate requirements. Most of the buildings are wired with cheap Chinese cable and electrical fittings despite the National Bureau of standards efforts to eliminate this. To make it all the merrier these contracts are approved by Government Engineers and payments are made.
My message to the Minister of Public Works is that you can’t hold contractors responsible for sub-standard work when the technical specifications and other information issued to them are flawed. Neither can the Ministry issue instructions that contradict the standards of other Government Agencies like the Government Electrical Inspectorate. It is also a slap in the face of the Inspectorate and by extension the Government when electrical work on Government buildings is being done by unlicensed people and then approved by Government Engineers.
Yours faithfully,
Patrick Fitzpatrick
