One day after Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo expressed concern over the poor quality of concrete being supplied to contractors for Government projects, the Ministry of Public Works today threatened to blacklist suppliers who fail in their supply obligations, as well as those who provide poor quality concrete mixture to contractors.

In a release today, the Works Ministry said it has been made aware that contractors have been complaining about the supply of concrete for various Government projects across the country.

The Ministry said the issue of delays in supply persists where contractors would remit advance payments to suppliers and are subjected to wait extended periods for delivery.

Further, the Ministry said it has also received complaints about inconsistent quantities and substandard quality of concrete being provided to contractors.

The Ministry said it will no longer tolerate the issue and has immediately instituted measures that it feels will remedy the situation.

Among those measures are enhanced government oversight, which will see the Ministry increase its monitoring of the concrete supply chain, and intensified testing and quality control exercises.

“The Ministry will blacklist delinquent concrete suppliers and prohibit government contractors from procuring concrete produced by them,” the Ministry warned.

Further, the Ministry said it will impose surcharges and recover costs from any delinquent concrete supplier whose products cause undue project delays, structural damage, increased expenditures and other relevant damages.

The Vice President said yesterday that persons in communities must come forward when substandard works are being done in their communities by contractors conducting government projects.

He said while some of the issues stem from the contractors, but concrete suppliers are also to be blamed.

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