Latest update December 19th, 2024 3:22 AM
Coldingen road contractor to be penalised for missing deadline
A section of the deteriorating Coldingen Road.
A road building contractor could face liquidation damage to the tune of millions of dollars following his failure to complete the Coldingen Access Road on the East Coast of Demerara on the stipulated deadline.
Work on the road which commenced in February this year was to have been completed on April 9th last.
The work involved the resurfacing of the main access road leading into the village of Enterprise, which was almost impassable.
Initially, the contractor had filled some of the craters with crusher-run, a move which was objected to a few weeks later by residents who insisted that there should have been some excavation before the material was laid.
This led to the intervention of Minister of Works, Robeson Benn who maintained that the contractor must follow the design set out by his engineers.
Since then there has been no more work on the road and with the rains already setting in, the road is showing signs of further decay, which could lead to an increase in the initial contract sum of $33M.
“From the time he stop working on this road to now, the road deteriorate worse than it was before,” one irate resident told this newspaper on Friday last. Kaieteur News understands that the same contractor is carrying out road works at broken water land, east of the Mahaicony Creek, further up the East Coast of Demerara.
There are also concerns that he is not working to the engineer’s design on that road also.
A source at the Region Four Democratic Council disclosed that the contractor was sent several letters regarding the non-compliance with the road’s stipulated design.
“He was warned that if he did not complete the Coldingen road by the April 9th deadline, the Ministry will impose the liquidation damage…he has no excuse for not completing it, all the materials are on site,” the Region Four source explained.
The source informed that the availability of asphalt as well as the weather cannot be used as an excuse by the contractor.
“The contractor is operating as if there is no due date for this road to be completed. He had dry weather that he could have taken advantage of to finish this road,” the resident reasoned.
The residents said that they have the support of Minister Juan Edghill who had visited the community and had listened to their complaints about the road a few weeks ago.
“When we raised the matter with Edghill, he condemned the work that he saw the contractor was doing,” one resident revealed.
He argued that even though residents may not be qualified engineers, they are intelligent enough to know when a contractor is doing shoddy work.
“Why is it residents don’t have a copy of the contract so that they can be effective watchdogs for government projects in their communities?” the resident asked.
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