-orders contractor to clear site

NOW that the contract for the $413 million Leguan Stelling has been officially terminated, the Guyana Government has made it clear that it reserves the right to seek compensation from the delinquent contractor.
By way of an official correspondence, Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC, informed the contractor, Sattrohan Maraj of S. Maraj Contracting Services, that his services were being terminated following a fundamental breach of the contract signed on September 20, 2018.
The Attorney-General indicated that the contracted works were slated to be completed on or before June 18, 2019.

“The T&HD (Transport and Harbours Department) has granted several extensions of the contract and notwithstanding those extensions, the project has been delayed for approximately 20 months,” the letter indicated. Nandlall reminded the contractor that, so far, his company had only completed a minimal amount of the scheduled work. As a result, the contractor was fired on the grounds of “failing to comply with the schedule of works,” as well as special conditions of the contract for the inordinate delay in completion of works under the contract.” Consequently, the Attorney-General indicated that the government will be moving to enforce several provisions of the contract in relation to “the performance bond of $43,325,926; the mobilisation bond of $81,398,376;” as well as the “ten per cent contract sum as liquidated damages and the value of works not performed.”

“In addition, thereto, the Government of Guyana reserves its right (to) institute legal proceedings against your company for compensation for breach of contract and unjust enrichment,” Nandlall posited in his letter to the contractor.
The Attorney-General further instructed the company to have the construction site cleared immediately. In a statement earlier in February, Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, announced that following a thorough review of the project, it was determined that the company is “incapable, unable, and does not possess the wherewithal to successfully execute this project valued at $413,259,260.”

Edghill had said that since the signing of the contract under the previous administration, the contractor received payments totalling $199,435,000, which is almost 50 per cent of the overall contract sum. This, he reminded, was “outside of normal procurement practices and a breach of the Fiscal Management Accountability Act” and “can be best described as a corrupt transaction.
“A contract that should have been completed in six months, signed on September 20, 2018 received an advance payment on September 26, 2018 but the contractor only received his order to commence works on December 6, 2018,” Edghill said, lamenting the fact that the contractor was in possession of “tens of millions of tax payers’ dollars” for almost three months before he was required to begin work.

It was reported that by April 19, 2019, the advance payment bond as well as the performance bonds for the project had expired. Edghill had said too that on October 30, 2019, the contractor, having received the contract to build the stelling, used the argument of a faulty bill of quantities and earned himself an additional $20,650,000 for the supply and delivery of piles for the same Leguan stelling.
“It is inconceivable that a contract for the building of a stelling will not include the piles, one of the most important components for the construction of the stelling,” Edghill had posited.
The Public Works Minister insisted that “any adverse consequences resulting from this must be placed squarely at the feet of the David Granger APNU+AFC administration with David Patterson and Annette Ferguson as the gazetted Ministers responsible.”