AWARDING road-construction contracts, using general contractors, is one of the main reasons for project delays, cost-overruns and not achieving value for money.

Awarding contracts to specialised contractors employed to do specific activities within a project ensures that projects are delivered on time, within budget, and to high standards.
This was one of the perspectives advanced during the 5th Annual Engineering Conference, organised by the Ministry of Public Works (MoPW).
The point of the benefits of awarding contracts for specific elements of a project to specialists rather than an entire project to general contractors was advanced by Sunil Ganesh, Project Manager of the Works Services Group(WSG) of the MoPW, during a presentation entitled: ‘Getting value for money in the construction sector’.
Ganesh argued that in a situation where both equipment and personnel are relatively scarce, awardees of contracts are compounding the problem by awarding contracts to general contractors who would need to acquire different and expensive pieces of equipment to complete a geographically-determined section of the work.
He said that in retrospect, the disadvantages could be seen in relation to the East Bank Demerara four-lane highway, in which contracts were awarded in three lots, based on geography and not on specialisation.
In this case, each  generalised contractor was expected to manage and execute all aspects of the job, including building the road, executing the pavement works, building the bridges, the culverts the drains works, etc; activities requiring multiple resources in terms of personnel and equipment.
“So,” he maintained, “if you have  three different contractors doing all the work in their sections, you have to get three different asphalt plants; in the construction of the bridges, you have to get three different cranes, etc.”
He said that using a general contracting methodology in the awarding of contracts actually compounded the problem caused by scarcity of equipment and human resources, and  had contributed to some of the delays recorded on this project..
“In such a case,” Ganesh said, “you are not getting the value for money, because you are actually spending more.”
In contrast, and in strong support of the advantages of awarding contracts on specific aspects of a project to specialists, he mentioned the experiences in road construction works on the East Coast of Demerara four-lane project, in which construction of the concrete drains represented 75% of the work.
He said that this project had been divided into seven lots, in which five lots were awarded to general contractors, and two lots were awarded to contractors who were more in the field of building and more specialised in concrete works.
“The result was that the lots which were awarded to the contractors who were specialised in concrete works were completed on time, whereas the five other lots in which the general road contractor had to find  a variety of equipment to do all aspects of the work,  were significantly delayed.”
He maintained that awarding contracts to specialists for a specific aspect of a project made full use of the financial synergies which aid in getting value for money.
The 5th annual Engineering Conference had been organised under the theme: ‘Defending Guyana’s development with engineering solutions’.

(By Clifford Stanley)