Gov’t Engineers get 300 per cent salary increase

Feb 26, 2017 News

…as MPI looks to tackle substandard works
Better salaries offered by private sector companies have been the main reason for the shortage of skilled engineers in the public sector. Because there aren’t enough engineers monitoring Government projects, there has been

The defective Kato Secondary School, constructed by Kares Engineering Incorporated.

the issue of substandard works, which usually results in the wastage of materials and state funds.
The Public Infrastructure Ministry is hoping that its move to give its in-house engineers, a massive raise would keep them and attract more engineers to work in the public sector.
According to subject Minister, David Patterson, the workers who were previously earning a salary of $86,000 take home, are now being paid $230,000 take home.
The Minister said that the government is not looking to import engineers, but rather, provide intense training to ensure that within the coming months, they are “up to scratch.”
“We’re looking to better the crop of engineers that we have here, because they are not bad at what they do,” Patterson asserted.
But even though the private sector is better staffed with engineers, contracting firms in the country have been blamed for executing sloppy works on a number of major infrastructural projects.
Patterson even declared a few months ago, that he was dissatisfied with the level of incompetence and professionalism displayed by majority of the local construction firms. This had previously resulted in the delay of several of the state’s major infrastructural projects.
The Minister said that often times, companies bid for multiple state projects, but are unable to competently complete any.
“Several contracts would have been awarded to contractors and would have received our mobilisation but no physical presence is there on site. When we check, they have more than one contract; they have a limited source of equipment and are spread thin but they continue to bid,” Patterson had said.
He added that despite this, there are currently no mechanisms in place that can prevent incompetent companies from bidding for more than one project.
Patterson yesterday said that while errant companies are not exactly blacklisted, the Government does have the prerogative to decline to work with any company based on past bad experiences.
For instance, in the case of the defective Kato Secondary School, Government had warned the contractor, Kares Engineering Incorporated to do the “honorable thing” and not bid for another state contract until it can get itself in order.
The construction of the school was a major project undertaken by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government, at the cost of $1B. Soon after construction, the structure began falling apart. As a consequence, the Coalition government has to spend more than $150M to repair the Region Eight school building.
In November, Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman, told reporters that while Kares Engineering would not be barred from tendering for government projects, it is unlikely, given the current circumstances that the company will be granted any.
Trotman had said that because Guyana is a democratic nation, anyone has a right to tender, but actually being awarded the contract is another matter entirely.
(Rehana Ahamad)

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