Ministry of Public Works stands by decision to cancel four-lane road contract

The Public Works Ministry is standing by its decision to cancel a contract for the extension of the East Coast Demerara Highway, saying it is following the advice of the attorney general to have allegations of falsification of documents investigated by the police.

Public Works Minister Robeson Benn during a press conference on Wednesday also said that the contract given to Falcon Transportation and Construction Services was terminated based on nonperformance.
The contractor has been making his case against the Public Works Ministry in the pages of the print media, alleging that some form of bribery was being pursued by officials of the ministry, but because he resisted, complaints were made regarding his work and subsequently his contract was terminated.
Minister Benn said the contract was terminated in the first instance based on fraudulent practices “with respect to which we have had advice from the Attorney General’s Chambers and these fraudulent claims made by the contractor, by the firm, relate basically to fraudulent claims with respect to the purchase of or provision of steel; and secondly with respect to the falsification of concrete testing results for work done on the project”.
Quoting from correspondence received from the Attorney General’s Chambers, Minister Benn said on the question of fraudulent claims, contracts can be terminated by amply notifying the contractor. “We gave that notice and we are standing by our claims.”
Benn is claiming that the contractor falsified concrete test results and alleged that his position was supported by the Faculty of Technology at the University of Guyana.
He noted the matter would now be handed over to police for investigation. He said that it must also be noted that the falsification of documents is a criminal offence under Section 241 2C of the Criminal Offense Act, Chapter 802, and therefore the police should be informed of the forgery to the University of Guyana test results sheet and the signature of a Maxwell Jackson, so that the necessary investigations can commenced into whether criminal charges should be brought against those responsible for the act.
It was also alleged by Minister Benn that the contractor presented invoices from suppliers that had blacked out invoice numbers, and claims for items twice.
On the issue of non-performance, Minister Benn said supervisors and engineers on site rejected works, but were ignored. “We are saying that for the nonperformance, the non- rework, we are also cancelling the contract for non-performance, issues of quality and failing to follow the direction and guidance of the ministry with respect to rework on the contract.” Cows going to slaughterhouse! Minister Benn argued that the issues and allegations by the contractor are only now being brought to the forefront after the termination of the contract, and questions why they were not raised before.
“Damn if you do, and damn if you don’t, and I am not prepared to be damned here when I know we are making genuine efforts to improve and to deliver to the government and people of Guyana good engineered projects… I have said before that the government has taken a policy where it’s fostering national contracting capacity for heavy construction in Guyana.”
It was also noted that the ministry has on record instances where they have experienced problems with the contractor before, and it had even moved to stop a project being executed by the said contractor.
“We have taken appropriate action and I am disturbed that we do not seem to get support from the Kaieteur News, which is always cussing us about accepting bad work and doing bad things and being in collusion… and when we have taken action, we are being pilloried.”
Blame it on Benn
Minister Benn stated that all the allegations of irregularities by Public Works officials and the other matters surfacing are not even at the core of the issue in his estimation.
“If there is anybody who should be blamed at the ministry for the cancellation of the contract, I want to be deemed that person because I went myself on a Saturday I believe, with our duty engineer for the weekend, and I pointed out on-site and the contractor was invited to meet me out there… I pointed out specific visible defects and problems with respect to the works, which I asked that the firm deal with and those were not dealt with… and added to that the proverbial straw which would break any camel’s back and which broke my back a long time ago, the submission of fraudulent test results and trying to force this ministry and its engineers to accept work which were patently not up to standard. We wouldn’t have it.”
Responding to the allegations of corrupt officials in his ministry, Benn said he was not aware of any allegations of corruption. He said, however, that his ministry has always fought corruption and other negatives and continues to do so, and challenged those who make allegations of corruption to come forward with the evidence.
Benn claimed too that he was inviting the Guyana Association of Professional Engineers to speak regarding the cancellation of the contract based on non- performance by the contractor. He also said his ministry was reviewing the matter with the view of quickly identifying another contractor.