The termination of two contracts under the Ministry of Agriculture for substandard work has seen the Office of the Auditor General recommend that systems be put in place to adequately monitor and supervise works to prevent recurrences.
In its report on the public accounts for 2022, the audit office cited poor work on a timber wharf and landing for the Fishermen’s Cooperative Society. It was awarded in the sum of $26.4m by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). As at December 31st , 2022, amounts totalling $3.96m had been paid to the contractor.
The audit office said that physical verification on July 6th, 2023 revealed that the works were incomplete and only one excavator and one staffer employed by the contractor were on site despite the fact that seven months had already passed on what was to be a 90-day project.
The report said that it was also observed that sub-standard timber deck planks with defective fall edges had been installed while most of the others were found to have cracks along the grain of the timber.
“Further, it was noted that the contractor was not executing the works in accordance with the specifications of the contract, whereby a 320 excavator was being used to drive the piles. This is unacceptable and is not in keeping with Item 1.1 of the Preliminaries bills, which states `allow a sum for mobilization and demobilization upon completion of works (60% payable for mobilization and 40% at completion of demobilization.) Rate must include for the provision of barge and other equipment to allow for pile driving on water’. No barge was being used and it is unclear how the Ministry is confirming that the piles are embedded to the correct and required depth, since the method being used by the contractor cannot provide any indication of the number of blows per foot of installation. Moreover, many of the piles driven are not truly vertical and this will affect the bearing capacity of the pile. This is a very serious matter and it is unclear why this situation is being tolerated by the ministry”, the report lamented.
The ministry’s response to the audit office was that the contract was terminated on August 29th, 2023. There was no explanation as to why the ministry had waited until August 29th to terminate.
The audit office recommended that the head of the budget agency put systems in place to adequately monitor and supervise contracts.
Serious problems were also evident in the construction of the New Guyana Marketing Corporation Packaging facility at Sophia for which a $62.9m contract was awarded by the NPTAB. For the period ending December 31st, 2022 the contractor received payments totalling $45.9m. Physical verification on August 9th, 2023 showed that the works were substantially completed but several defective and poor quality works were observed on the building. The report said that the order to commence was not seen in the documents presented for audit examination and as such the contractual commencement and completion dates could not be confirmed.
“Loose PVC ceiling panels internally and externally to eaves, improperly anchored internal walls, holes in the walls of freezer rooms, unsealed eaves, incomplete earthing of building and untidy electrical and conduit works, poor quality and warped gutter boards to the building, and large areas of ponding in the newly paved asphalt driveway were observed”, the audit office said.
Taking account of the fact that the contract was signed in 2021 with a duration of six months, the report said that it is unclear why in 2023 the building had not been completed.
The Head of the Budget Agency’s response was that the contract was terminated in August 17th 2023. Again, it is unclear why the ministry took that long before it acted over the substandard work. In recent months concern has been raised about poor work and supervision on infrastructural projects and the manner in which some of these are being awarded by the NPTAB.
Pumps
The audit office report also addressed a 2018 contract that had been awarded to Apollo International Limited of India for drainage pumps which encountered major problems. It was awarded in the sum of US$3.6m on June 5th, 2018 for the design, supply, installation and commissioning of nine fixed and three mobile high capacity drainage pumps and associated structures/equipment. The contract was signed on September 3rd 2018. Total payments on the contract as at December 31st, 2021 were $600.8m. Further, last year, the entire sum of $152.5m allotted for the project was not expended.
The pumps were received in March 2020 and installations were completed in 2021. Pumps were installed at Hampton Court, Devonshire Castle, Den Amstel, Hope, Nootenzuil, Mora Point and Rose Hall. The mobile pumps were located at Church Street, Sussex Street and South Ruimveldt.
The Head of the Budget Agency said that the sum allocated was not expended in 2022 due to issues with some of the pumps supplied.
The audit office said that ten of the twelve engines supplied were determined to be undersized and incapable of running the pumps on a long-term basis. An assessment ordered by the government recommended that ten engines be replaced with adequately rated engines and the remaining balance on the contract be used to replace these engines and remedy other defects on the equipment supplied.
The ministry’s response was that the National Drainage and irrigation Authority indicated that one gear drive was supplied for the Devonshire Castle Pump Station. However, none of the ten engines were changed as requested – three for the mobile pumps and seven for the fixed pumps.
The audit office recommended that the ministry continue to engage the contractor with a view to having the 10 engines replaced.
