MINISTER of Education (MoE), Priya Manickchand, said that her ministry is likely to have the Attorney General terminate the current contract for the construction of the dormitories of the Linden Technical Institute (LTI).
A $398.173 million contract for the construction of the facility had been awarded on May 30, 2018 and signed on July 9, 2018, for the construction work which was expected to last 18 months with a defects liability period of 12 months. The contract was scheduled to commence on September 6, 2018 and complete on August 16, 2020.
However, according to the recently released Auditor General’s 2019 Report, as of September 2020, the construction was still incomplete despite the deadline for the completion of the works having expired. The construction is being done by Courtney Benn Construction Services Limited, which already had a contract terminated by the MoE last month for slothfulness on the construction of the St Rose’s High School.

“We are about to terminate for the same reasons. Long months upon months and what was supposed to be done has not been done. When contractors fail to do that which they [were]contracted to do, it is the ordinary people who depend on the state for service who suffer and are short changed, Minister Manickchand told the Guyana Chronicle.
The Linden Technical Institute has been in existence for over 60 years and has been providing technical and vocational education and training programmes. The dormitory was being built to house students residing in Rockstone, Kwakwani, Ituni, Riverview and the riverine communities in the Upper Demerara and Berbice Rivers.
The works on the dormitory were supposed to include the construction of six reinforced concrete buildings, Blocks A to F. Blocks A and F were the canteen and admin buildings respectively, while Blocks B, C, D and E would serve as the dormitories. The blocks are required to be complete with plumbing, electrical and rainwater installation, painting and tiling, along with landscaping works, boundary fence, six non-electric rooms and a guard hut.

In the Audit Report, it was noted that notwithstanding the expiration of the completion date, works were still yet to commence on Block A and F while works on Blocks B, C, D and E were in progress; however, there was “minimal activity on site with approximately 12 staff carrying out the works”.
Notwithstanding the state of the works, the report noted that the contractor has already received payments totaling $165.176 million, which included two advance payments of $59.741 million and $49 million, along with eight interim payments. It was noted, however, that while the contractor received two advance payments, the contract only catered for one advance payment.

“The second advance payment is a clear breach of the contract and should not have been paid to the contractor. Further, there was no evidence in the Project File indicating that the contractor used the advance payments exclusively to pay for plant, machinery, and equipment, materials and other expenses required directly for the execution of the contract, as required under clause 34.2 of the General Conditions of Contract,” the report said
Moreover, the advance bonds have since expired on January 31, 2020 and August 31, 2020, respectively, with only $20.909 million or 35 per cent of the first advance payment having since been recovered.