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Govt. engineers will be fired for sloppy project estimates – Minister Edghill
By Sueann Wickham
The Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill.
Kaieteur News – “Government engineers are not being paid to waste taxpayers’ dollars.” This was the assertion of Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, as he made it clear that the government is prepared to sever ties with those engineers who prepare sloppy estimates. Sloppy estimates, the Minister explained, can eventually result in contractors being overpaid for works under government projects.
The Minister, who was at the time responding to a question during a telephone interview with Kaieteur News, pronounced on the PPP/C’s plan to prevent overpayment on contracts. Under the previous administration, the Ministry of Public Works (then Ministry of Infrastructure) was flagged by the Auditor General (AG) for instances of overpayment.
But the PPP/C, while in government previously, had committed similar indiscretions, which were also cited by the AG.
Minister Edghill is of the firm belief that the administration in its current form will not misuse tax dollars. Achieving this, he said, will be guided by looking at some key areas.
Substandard estimates
Edghill explained that for a contractor to be overpaid for works, the engineer designated to that project would have had to conduct substandard estimates and evaluations. He said, that includes over-measuring and, in some cases other miscalculations, and engineers simply not being on the work grounds to execute their duties. The role of a government engineer is to manage these projects and ensure correct calculations are made.
The Minister noted that for a contractor to receive money, someone has to sign off on the works conducted and ensure they are done at the right volumes, and that person is the engineer. Any engineer who signs off on work and is found to be absent from the work grounds, inherently failing to ensure proper estimates are done, will be fired and dismissed from the project immediately, according to Minister Edghill.
Government engineers, he added, are not being paid to “simply hand contractors money.” They are therefore expected to ensure they save public funds from being expended wildly by doing proper estimations.
Overpayment on contracts and repayments
Minister Edghill also acknowledged the previous administration’s failure to collect monies overpaid to contractors on projects. He noted that the Public Works Ministry would be robustly going after overpayments made on projects.
In the 2019 AG report, it was revealed that the previous administration overpaid some $166 million of taxpayers’ dollars on contracts. The report stated that several Ministries, government departments and regional administrations were found to be doing so. The Public Infrastructure Ministry accounted for $63.7 million, and $73.7 million was overpaid by regional administrations.
In the report, it was noted that as of September 2019 only $20 million was recovered meaning that a significant portion is still outstanding.
Zero tolerance policy for non-repayment
Edghill listed his administration’s third principle as a zero-tolerance policy for non-repayment from contractors. He spoke about contractors who refuse to repay overpaid funds to the state, noting that once a contractor refuses to repay the overpaid sum, they cannot be considered for future projects from the government.
Additionally, Edghill had previously said that once a contractor refuses to repay, his administration would pursue all avenues to recover the sums, which include pursuing legal action if necessary.
Since taking office in August last year, Edghill’s Ministry would have dismissed a number of contractors from projects who were guilty of delayed works.
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