A shortfall in technical staffing and incapable contractors are being blamed for setbacks in the completion of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure’s work programme for 2017.

Subject Minister David Patterson delivered the feature address at the start of a marathon year end press conference on Thursday and thanked his staff for their hard work during the year.

He said there remains too few technical personnel and capable contractors to support the Ministry’s programme, adding that “while the staff at Ministry continues to work beyond the call of their mandate, we are still understaffed. There is a lot of capacity and growth areas to be filled”.

Coupled with that, Patterson said his Ministry is competing with an active private sector, announcing that the Ministry lost several senior staff members to private sector entities and sister Ministries.

“But we are actively addressing it,” he said while explaining that it is not only a question of remuneration but also the benefits that are offered along with employed.

On this note, he added that the government has limitations, which the private sector doesn’t have.

“Capacity of contracting groups is another major challenge. We are still faced with the fact that there are too few capable contractors in the system and we urgently need to increase that capacity,” he added.

To address this issue, the Minister reminded that new features will be introduced into the procurement system during 2018, aimed at ensuring that contractors raise standards and remain consistent.

The challenges extend also to contractors not managing their works and overextending themselves, lack of experienced personnel, equipment shortage and cash flow issues.

These challenges resulted in several projects being terminated for 2017.

The Ministry could not immediately provide figures on terminations and penalties instituted. This is not the first that that the Minister has raised these issues in the media but Thursday’s reminder came with fresh commitments to seriously addressing the issue at hand. Not withstanding the challenges, the Minister said he was pleased with the work of his Ministry during 2017, regarding the work done as a continuation of the Ministry’s successes.

Patterson told his Heads of departments present that the demands of the Ministry will not reduce but will increase over the next year.

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