President roasts Contractors and REOs over delayed school projects

President Irfaan Ali has hauled in Regional Executive Officers, Regional Engineers and contractors currently constructing new schools and education facilities across the country to register his dissatisfaction over the slow pace of work and several other issues, which he deemed as excuses by the contractors.

At a meeting on Saturday, which was attended by Education Minister Priya Manickchand and Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, the President told the officials and contractors that the education sector is an important one for the government and therefore persons who are undertaking government contracts in the sector must get up to speed.

“I want to make very clear that these projects must be managed independently and we are going to hold the REOs and engineers accountable for all of these projects and I want the contractors to understand that from day one once there are breaches and the contractors are not fulfilling their responsibility, I need letters to be written and placed in their files and at the end of the contractual period or before , if there is cause for termination, the files must be closed and a copy of the file must be sent to NPTAB so that they will know that these contractors are not performing,” the President noted.

There are a number of school construction projects that are running behind schedule by months, and in some cases for more than a year.

According to the President, many contractors bid for projects in Regions without having a fair understanding of the Region or what is required of them, and when the contract is awarded, they then experience frequent delays and other issues on the project.

“We are not going to tolerate those excuses, most of these projects are slated to be completed within 15-18 months, so I wanted to address today the Ministry staff and engineering section because the Ministry also have a responsibility to ensure that the work is completed within time, budget and the quality we expect,” the President noted.

Explaining that most of the new facilities will be modern facilities to give the education sector the boost it needs, President Ali made it clear that he will not settle for substandard work.

“Those of you who are working in hinterland regions for example, you to make use of the weather conditions. Many of you would have more than one projects and when you are awarded more than one projects, it is not so that you can do one at a time, you have to posses the capability to work simultaneously on all of the projects,” the President told the contractors.

The President also told the contractors that there will be penalties attached to their sloppy work, and in some cases, contractors will be blacklisted from bidding for future projects.