By Joseph Allen
Residents of the town of Mahdia in Region Eight are complaining about the current state of a $60 million road project, which had a completion deadline close to a year ago.
The road in question is D’Anjou Street, located in the town and falls under a $60 million contract that was awarded to United Construction Services and Supply.
This contract was signed in August 2022, with the completion date in December of that very year and the project covered some 300 feet of road works.
Currently, the road is yet to be completed and residents are complaining about defects in the section of the road which a subcontractor had worked on.
Stabroek News spoke with Councillor Juwayne Burrowes, who explained that the project was going well until it was subcontracted to another construction company.
Burrowes explained to Stabroek News that a cabinet minister had visited the area back in July 2022, and was told of the need for the construction of the aforementioned road.
Subsequently, United Construction Service and Supply was awarded the contract to do construction and rehabilitation of the road with the residents providing necessary information and oversight. Things were going well until the subcontractor began work.
She said: “They started off good, then it went to a halt for a couple of months. We went back and we visited and we saw no work being done there, then we were told that Mr Hardat Ramlagan, through ‘word of mouth’ that work was subcontracted to him. We saw in the height of the work going on that there were some complaints where there was no steel being placed in the road and upon visiting that site, the Road Engineer was there (Mr Wendell) from Mahdia when I was there and got the complaints. I got three phone calls and I went to the site and I saw some work being done by a few young men. So, I asked if it was the same contractor that issued us these documents is doing the work and they said no, the work was subcontracted to Mr. Hardat, a contractor in Mahdia.”
At the moment, Burrowes added, the council has not received any documents relating to him being contracted to do the work.
“So the residents started to make noise and they started to protest and said that the problem is that it has been weeks with nothing done and regarding the continuation of the road, there is no steel being placed in the road. So, the engineer was on site and told them to break back what they would have done to verify if there was no steel in the road and at that point and it was verified that there was indeed no steel in the section in which the subcontractor did works”, she said.
Coupled with the fact that there was no steel in the road, the councillor also noted that at some points there were also cracks in the road.
In an effort to get a comment on the matter from the contractor, Unity Construction, Stabroek News spoke to the owner, Sarfraz Ali.
Ali said that even before the start of the project, preparation work had to be done which took some time. This entailed the removal of pipes, fences, et cetera, and the ministry was aware of all that was happening with the project and now the project is at the stage of completion.
He was also granted an extension to the contract by the ministry, and the project work was extended from 300 feet to 400 feet. The owner also explained that the section which he was initially contracted to do was completed months ago and the remaining 100-foot section was subcontracted out.
In response to claims of substandard work by not using steel in the road, Ali noted that was an issue that was dealt with, the same day it was raised.
“It’s one part they had a problem [with]. … the workman had some problem where you put the two steel to join and I don’t know what happened but there was a gap. But, on the same night, they fixed it back with the government engineer on site.”
As it relates to timelines, Ali pointed out that the project took some extra time due to logistical issues and sourcing of materials.
“There was an issue with the bridge breaking down, there is transportation, and also getting stone from Omai, and the ministry has asked them to secure some stone to finish the project”, he said.
He added that this project was a loss for his company and that was hard but despite that the project is at its final stage.
“The road was (a) loss for us and on top of that you had to get people to work and that was very hard. So, I had to subcontract this guy, who is a resident in the area… so the project is finished currently, it’s just some small work to do like the side wall and it should be finished this week. The road is finished. A section of the road had to cure and that is day work”, he stated.
Ali also said that he remains in contact with local authorities in Mahdia to explain what was happening with the project.
