President Bharrat Jagdeo says he will rigidly enforce provisions to ensure contractors and consultants execute civil projects in a timely manner as penalties will be applied to late deliveries.

A Government Informa-tion Agency (GINA) press release said Jagdeo told a meeting with contractors and consultants that in order to ensure that they conduct their work effectively government will pay close attention to the pre-qualification of contractors.  “I think that from now on we will have a process of rigorously identifying the capabilities and then throughout the year this will make our work easy,” the president said.

Jagdeo said too contractors will be categorised as those of good standing and those who fail to live up to expectations and those that fall into the latter grouping will not be given contracts even if “I have to amend the legislation to ensure that this happens.”

Prior to meeting with the president the Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh told the group that there was grave concern about persons overextending themselves then failing to deliver. Jagdeo also touched on this issue saying that often contractors and consultants are able to do so because no penalty had been attached to late delivery of projects. However, he said, “that is going to change and liquidated damages will be instituted. I don’t think you can go to the Minister of Finance or any other Ministry to get a break, like we have seen in the past…this is going to be across the board.” The president said he expects contractors to live up to their responsibilities and if they need assistance from government they should request same.

In order to ensure that contractors and consultants have access to government Jagdeo said the finance ministry should maintain frequent contact with these workers particularly to provide guidance on planning and money management. The ministry should also provide guidance on matters such as shortening the process of obtaining duty-free concessions, building permits and similar matters as sometimes delays and lengthy processing in these areas is due to official procedures.

“I want to be fair to the contractors too,” the president said, adding that consultants and contractors can make known their needs at seminars held throughout the year that are aimed at guiding them. Jagdeo said too these seminars are being held to inform contractors about modern building materials that are now in use.