The bond submitted by terminated road contractor, N&S General Engineering Contracting Services, to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) will be tapped to repay the Ministry of Public Works, Board Chairman Tarachand Balgobin has disclosed.
“As part of the bidding document, bidders have to submit a security bond. If they default, then you hold that security. So there is no loss in this case. We held it and the ministry will recover their money,” Balgobin said in response to the Sunday Stabroek on the issue.
N&S General Engineering Contracting Services won a contract to construct one kilometre of road into El Dorado – a continuation of the Moleson Creek to El Dorado road project which is vital for the construction of the planned Corentyne Bridge.
The company’s head, Shazad Sattaur, 36, has declined to speak on the issue.
Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, disclosed that the contractor had uplifted a mobilisation advance of $22 million some eight months ago but failed to start any sort of work at the location.
The company was called in by the ministry and given several notices about not starting the contract, but to no avail.
The contractor, according to the minister, “indicated that he was having trouble getting materials.”
And when he did, Edghill said that the ministry called a Berbice supplier and arranged for the contractor to get all the materials needed, with the understanding that the supplier would be paid directly by the ministry from the contractor’s sums for the contract.
“He already had money – the mobilization advance – we said we will pay directly from the contract sum to the supplier. He agreed to that but went back to Berbice and nothing,” he added.
Fed up with complaints from citizens and checks by the ministry on the progress of works, Edghill said he decided to visit but the contractor failed to show on the day of the visit. “He knew I was visiting and he was not there.”
It was during that visit that the minister announced the sacking of the company.
Edghill subsequently told this newspaper that he has written the national tender board and will also notify the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) as to why the ministry no longer wishes the sacked contracting firm to undertake any of its other projects.
Sounding a warning to other prospective contractors across the country, Edghill cautioned that they should take heed because the same fate awaits them should they default on contracts awarded.
“I would expect that everyone listen to me because this is a warning. Every time we deal with a contractor, they have to understand that this will come their way if they behave the same. I went to Mahdia and dealt with the man with the half road and I think everybody understands,” he said.
