Minister of Public Works, Hon. Juan Edghill has disclosed that Trinidadian construction company Kalco Guyana Incorporated has agreed to exit the contract which it signed as part of the Conversation Tree to Dennis Street Road Expansion Project “in a non-adversarial manner.”
The Public Works Minister also stated that the Government of Guyana is taking steps to recover the mobilization fees paid to the company and “the termination agreement is slated to be finalized in the coming weeks.”
The company was officially given a stop order by the Ministry of Public Works in mid-April after it failed to demonstrate any progress on the project even after benefitting from several extensions.
The project, which was valued at GYD 830 million has been marred by several instances of subpar performance and was initially slated to be completed on November 5, 2023.
A day after it was disclosed by Minister Edghill that the Government was taking steps to terminate the contract, President Ali and a technical team visited the area to conduct an inspection.
During this visit, the President instructed that drainage and irrigation works be carried out on the uncompleted section of the project to prevent flooding considering the upcoming rainy season.
Recently the government has taken a strong stance against delinquent contractors amidst several uncompleted projects. To remedy the prevailing situation, Attorney General Anil Nandlall announced recently that contract monitoring units would be established in all Ministries and a Contract Compliance Unit has already been established at the Attorney General Chambers.
The Ministry of Finance will be responsible for the liquidated damages incurred by the company while the Attorney General will issue the letter of notice.