Cabinet has taken a decision to go after contractors who fall short of their obligations to the State, says Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall.
The move was long in the making, the AG said as he lamented the pussyfooting tactics by contractors.
This decision was approved by the Cabinet during its recent meeting on Thursday.
The Ministry of Finance (MOF) has been tasked with identifying companies that have failed to perform, after which, their names will be forwarded to the Attorney General’s Chambers for further action.
Nandlall said that when a project is stalled, it deeply affects the administration’s infrastructure development.
He was at the time addressing several matters during his weekly televised programme ‘Issues in the News’ aired Tuesday evening.
“The Attorney General’s Chambers has received firm instructions, to first notify the delinquent contractors and demand from them, liquidated damages where the contract so permits and to sue for breach of contract. We cannot continue to have contractors not discharging their contractual obligations in accordance with the contractual specifications,” Minister Nandlall expressed.
Government, he added, will not tolerate substandard work when billions of dollars are being expended to offset the administration’s aggressive infrastructural development agenda.
“Contractors who are performing well and are discharging their contractual obligations have no reason to worry. The delinquent ones, however, that delinquency will attract certain legal consequences and the government intends to move strongly and swiftly in that direction,” he stated.
Since taking office in 2020, the administration has terminated several multi-million-dollar contracts due to several breaches by contractors. The government is also filing civil legal proceedings against delinquent motorists who destroy public property by dangerous driving, seeking compensation worth millions of dollars. Troy Humphrey, who damaged the recently commissioned Eccles/Haags Bosch roundabout, is the first civilian to face legal proceedings filed by the state. (Extracted and modified from the Department of Public Information)
