— Minister Mustapha tells defaulting contractors

CONTRACTORS who have outstanding works or who are late with providing critical supplies to several agencies that form part of the Ministry of Agriculture, were on Monday engaged on meeting their contractual obligations within the given time frame.

According to a release, during a meeting with representatives from several companies that have active contracts with the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), The New Guyana Marketing Corporation (New GMC), the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), and the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA), Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha reminded the contractors of the government’s policy pertaining to delays in the completion of critical works geared at improving the lives of citizens.

“Contractors who just indicated that they will complete their works in the specified time, please work towards that. We have a lot of programmes [that are] expected to come on stream next year and the ministry should not have to engage the Tender Board or the Ministry of Finance because contractors are not satisfying their end of the bargain.

As a government, we are interested in getting these projects going so that we can get our programme off the ground. We are almost at the end of our expenditure cycle, so I want to urge you to ensure you complete these works.

These works are considered critical for the improvement of the lives of our citizens. As a government, we do not want to have projects going on beyond their project lifecycle,” Minister Mustapha said.

Minister Mustapha also gave contractors up until the end of the week to renew their mobilisation bonds and submit them to the ministry.
Some of the contractors cited delays in shipments of critical materials or unfavourable weather for not being able to complete their projects and for seeking extensions. However, most contractors present committed to completing all outstanding works by the end of the year.

With the onset of the ongoing global pandemic, international shipping has seen a massive shortfall after countries such as China and the United States had closed their borders. To date, the global manufacturing sector continues to experience delays in addition to the freight costs moving from US$4,000 per container to US$20,000 per container.

Minister Mustapha is expected to meet with the contractors in the coming weeks for an update on the progress made since Monday’s meeting, the release said.