Latest update March 29th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 17, 2017 News
For years, Auditor General Deodat Sharma exposed innumerable instances where there were grand overpayments on contracts within the public procurement system.
The current Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson disclosed that he has taken note of those observations by the Auditor General, and has already taken steps within his Ministry to ensure that this practice remains a thing of the past.
Patterson indicated to this newspaper yesterday that there were cases of contractors receiving about 70 percent of the advance payment for projects. The Minister said that this is no longer the case. He said that according to the procurement laws, contractors are only awarded 20 percent of the mobilization advance payments.
“They paid contractors like about 70 percent of the work and mobilization advances. We have already
put certain things in place. We have reduced the risk and we have started to follow all of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB)’s procedures. So it won’t be happening again, but that would have happened under the previous administration,” Patterson emphasised
According to the Auditor General’s most recent report, overpayments amounting to $35.7M were made on measured works on 31 contracts administered by Ministries, Departments and Regions in 2015, which included amounts totaling $19.9M that was overpaid for works on the Synthetic Track Leonora, construction of Kitchen Mess Hall Building at Air Corps, Timehri, land filling and concrete works at Student Dorms, Liliendaal and upgrading of the Aishalton Secondary Male and Female Dorms in Region Number Nine.
Sharma stated that recoveries through repayments amounted to $30.5M of the sum of $407.5M overpaid on contracts that were awarded prior to 2015.
The Auditor General said that this resulted in total overpayments amounting to $377M still to be recovered at the end of 2015. Whilst some entities had made progress in recovering overpayments, Sharma noted that others faced serious challenges.
“As stated in my 2014 Report, this continued trend, coupled with no evidence to suggest that disciplinary action of any kind had been meted out to engineering or other staff involved in the assessment of works in progress and the certification of progress payments is of concern, and hints at management.”
Patterson was asked yesterday if he has since taken disciplinary action against those who may have been implicated in the overpayment of contracts in his Ministry.
The Minister said it is hard to discipline those persons because they were simply following orders that were given from “higher places.”
Patterson said, “It’s hard to discipline those employees because they were carrying out instructions handed down to them. It would have sort of been unfair.”
The Parliamentarian took the decision not to hand down any instruction to discipline staff implicated.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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