Govt. officials mum on flawed Airport contract

Sep 18, 2013 News

Questions posed to government officials about the administration’s reason behind taking on the burden of cleaning up the contractor’s mess, if any, on the Airport project, remain unanswered.

Attorney General, Anil Nandlall

The Guyana Government and China Harbour Engineering Corporation (CHEC) signed the US$150M contract for the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) expansion, a day before the hosting of the General Elections in 2011.
It was recently discovered that this contract carries an amended version of the international best practice standard.
According to the international standards, “the contractor shall give all notices, pay all taxes, duties and fees, and obtain all permits, licenses and approvals, as required by the Laws in relation to the design, execution and completion of the works and the remedying of any defects and the Contractor shall indemnify and hold the Employer harmless against and from the consequences of any failure to do.”
However, for some reason that hasn’t been disclosed. The Guyana government agreed that the word “Contractor” be changed to “Employer” (i.e. government) and conversely where the word employer appears, it is replaced by contractor.
The effect of this amendment is to transfer from the contractor to the government, the responsibilities, which the international best practice standard imposes on the contractor.
Under the contract inked with the contractor, even where notices and expenses are incurred in remedying defects caused by the contractor, the government is required by contract to deal with this.
Asked why the government of Guyana opted to take on the extra burden of fixing defects in the works being done by Chinese contractors, taking into consideration the large sum that is being paid, two top government officials declined to give answers.
Minister of Public Works Robeson Benn, who is directly in charge of project, told Kaieteur News, “I will not be speaking to you guys on this matter.”
When the question was posed to Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall at a People’s Progressive Party (PPP) press conference, he declined response, on the call of ignorance.

Works Minister Robeson Benn

Nandlall said that he could not comment on a single clause in the multi-million dollar contract simply because he hadn’t read it.
This is the same contract that Nandlall made several references to during the time of Budget debates.
On the very night that the opposition axe fell on the budgetary allocations set aside for the Ministry of Public Works, Nandlall said “Guyana is now faced with possible legal penalties.” He said several of the programmes and projects cut by the political opposition are legally binding, and could attract massive penalties that would have to be paid by government and “ultimately by taxpayers.”
It is the same taxpayers will have to pay to fix any defective work done on the project.