…Region Four to probe
Region Four chairman Clement Corlette has vowed to pull in the region’s tender board for scrutiny and make it answer exactly how a single contractor has managed to secure over 10 projects for this year alone.  Corlette’s comments came at the region’s statutory meeting on Tuesday after Alliance For Change councillor Michael Carrington and People’s National Congress Reform councillor Rainsford Benfield expressed their concerns over the two issues.
Some contractors in the region have raised the issue of late payment  for contracted work.

Carrington who brought it to the fore urged that the council conduct an investigation to ascertain how it  is that a single contractor has been winning all the contracts. He said he was also concerned with the pace of works if one contractor had to fulfill the obligations of too many contracts simultaneously.

Meanwhile on the issue of late payment to some contractors, Corlette said it seemed as though some contractors were receiving preference ahead of others and were being paid in a more timely manner.  Regional Executive Officer Shafdar Alli who was asked to explain the reason for this told councillors at the Providence Community Centre that timely payments depended on at least two factors.

According to him the pace at which the contractor works and the timely delivery of work was a consideration for timely payments  since this will
“go through faster.”

Clement Corlette

Further, he said, each project comes under different programmes and in some cases funds are readily available under one programme and not the other and so some projects are made to wait until there are further releases.

Benfield questioned how long it would take for delayed monies to become available and  Ali explained that the matter sometimes was not just about the region but also the necessary procedures at the Ministry of Finance.