Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has once again expressed his displeasure over the work being done by a number of local contractors, who he complained continue to fail to deliver government projects on time.

Questioned about reports of corruption in the Government procurement system and complaints of a lack of fairness in the awarding of contracts,  Mr. Jagdeo said while the Government is putting relevant systems in place, it still has issues with many local contractors who are given a chance, but fail to deliver.

“We are still having major problems with delivery not so much with procurement, but delivery, people are slow in completing a lot of the projects that we have awarded, in housing in infrastructure, for example the young professionals’ homes and also the core homes, you know how many young professionals come to me and say their houses have been delayed a year and they are paying mortgages,” Mr. Jagdeo.

The government has been rolling out a number of projects in communities across the country and has been boasting about the increase in the number of contractors executing Government work.

But concerns have been raised about the standard of work being done, with many persons complaining about substandard road work in many areas.

Both Mr. Jagdeo and Works Minister Juan Edghill have acknowledged the problem and had threatened to blacklist errant contractors. But there appears to have been no move in that direction.

“So, we have a problem with many people especially local contractors, some are doing excellent jobs and some are not fulfilling their promises or doing substandard work, we have to fix that part from the procurement. We have to fix that apart from the procurement to make sure that it is done well,” Mr. Jagdeo said.

He said there must be a balance in locals being given the opportunity to take on contracts, and not just foreign companies.

According to the Vice President, the issue is also about capacity and the need for the procurement system to be strengthened.

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