Days after Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill declared that the government has no intention of paying him a single dollar more for the long-delayed Leguan Stelling rehabilitation, the contractor has defended his performance and blamed the ministry for adding on tasks.
Sattrohan Maraj, the head of S. Maraj Contracting Services said the minister does not appear to be in possession of all the facts.
“The Minister is not putting out the truth about this project. I don’t know if he wasn’t informed by his engineers but whatever statement they have in the Chronicle; it’s misleading”, Maraj told Stabroek News
The contract for the rehabilitation of the stelling was signed in 2018 to the tune of $413 million and was expected to be completed within a 6-month period. After a hiatus and a contract termination, a new contract was signed in December last year and the total cost has now risen to $607m. Maraj is now seeking more money.
Edghill had declared during an interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI) that the government will not give “another dime” to the company for the remainder of the work.
According to Edghill, the contractor has requested more money from the government to complete the project despite the fact that a previously agreed-upon figure had already been approved.
Edghill said that he was told that in order for the minor works to be completed, that is, the installation of the linkspan bridge, putting in the guard rails, installing the lights, and getting the administration building fixed, more money will be needed. However, there is not much more that the government can do since the contract sum has ballooned from $413 million to $607 million.
Maraj after reading this, told Stabroek News on Tuesday that the statement is misleading and far from the truth.
“Because they have set a deadline to complete work on July the 31st, however, we finished work on July the 16th, and we have completed all casting of the deck, and prior to that we have submitted relevant documents for works to be completed in the project but it would have to be a decision made by the relevant engineers for us to get a go-ahead before we could actually activate because there is a provisional sum, and so one. To date, we are waiting on them and they haven’t responded to us”, he said.
Maraj contended that the project delay is based on several faults of the Ministry and its engineer.
“All of the mistakes lie with the government; the engineer and the ministry because it has shortcomings in the documents we have outlined for them, however, they didn’t want to listen until they saw yes they were wrong, and that is when they started to move forward and listen to us on telling them what to do. Because the first instance is that the length of the concrete pile had to be increased from 50ft to 100ft and that took them 3 and half years for them to make that decision. The work was suspended by the previous Government, so, we could not have been working on the site. Now, the new Minister came and they terminated the project and saw that they were wrong they give us time to complete, and we finished all our work in the timeframe but everything is not complete because we are waiting on approval from the engineer and the Ministry on other items such as the guard rails and the expansion on the linkspan. We have completed the linkspan but we are waiting on drawings for the hinges connection. So, is not a hold-up on our side but the Ministry”, Maraj explained
Maraj said that as they work, a new task is being added to the project that has to go through yet another approval process which can take some time. This he said has delayed the project and the company has not even had a full six months of work to complete the project.
He stated that the project will need more money depending on what the Government needs to be added. The more the project is modified, the more money is going to be needed to complete the project. Maraj noted also that from the perspective of project management with the dimensions also changing, the Ministry will have to answer to that.
Stabroek News has seen correspondence dated August 9th 2023 to Maraj from the ministry’s project manager Jermaine Braithwaite on revised drawings and bill of quantities for the office building.
“With reference to the captioned subject and related decisions taken at our recent progress meeting, please find revised drawings and a blank bill of quantities for the office building attached for your review.
“You are hereby requested to provide a cost breakdown to the Project Management Team for the execution of the works detailed in the attached bill of quantities which will be paid for under bill item 4.26”, the correspondence said. It was copied to the General Manager of the Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD), the District Engi-neer of the Ministry of Public Works and the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the T&HD.
Maraj said that he does know the intention of the Ministry in issuing a misleading statement that would continue to tarnish the name of his company when all the issues lie at the feet of the ministry.
This, he said, had left him a position where no new contracts are being given to his company as a result of the incomplete Leguan stelling.
This contract with Maraj which was signed in September 2018 was valued at $413,259,260. Works began in December 2018 and in March 2019, works were suspended by order of the Transport and Harbours Department due to several issues raised.
On November 6, 2019, there was a Recommencement of Work order but in February 2021, when the new PPP/C Government was in place Minister Edghill terminated the contract.
On March 2021, S. Maraj Contracting Services was sued by the state, and in December 2022, works recommenced on the Leguan Stelling after a new contract was signed.
