Months after taking over the project from Trinidadian company, Kalco Guyana Incorporated, who had failed in delivering, S. Jagmohan Construction and General Supplies Inc. is in the final stages of completing the long-overdue Conversation Tree Road upgrade.
The contract for the road project was awarded to S. Jagmohan Construction back in April, and the contractor is set to commission the road sometime this week.
This publication visited the project site on Tuesday where contractors were paving the lanes, among other works.
Initially pegged at $1.8 billion, the Conversation Tree-to-Dennis Street Project was split into two lots, with the first lot having already been completed on time by S. Jagmohan Construction to the tune of some $1 billion.
The second phase, which was awarded to controversial Trinidadian company Kalco Guyana Inc., was stalled for several months and the previous contractor was flagged on multiple occasions for poor performance after abandoning work on the roadway.
Even though the initial project deadline was set for November 5, 2023, during an inspection conducted on March 4, 2024, it was noted that Kalco had instructed its engineers to halt operations and no other work had since been done.
Consequently, the government had announced in May that it was moving to terminate the $830 million contract with Kalco after the company “did not live up to expectations”.Thereafter, the administration decided to award the contract of the second phase to S. Jagmohan Construction.
Public Works Minister, Juan Edghill in August had revealed to the National Assembly that S. Jagmohan was given the contract to the tune of $844 million to complete the works, with a deadline of October 29.
It was also revealed that Kalco was already paid some $465 million. Though not pursuing liquidated damages against the contractor, the government said it took possession of the contractor’s vehicles and equipment to the value of $153 million.
Edghill had explained that penalties were not applied to the contractor since the agreement was “amicably settled” as opposed to the contract being terminated.
This move by the government to end the contract with the Trinidadian company comes on the heels of efforts to clamp down on contractors who are lagging on projects being executed for the State.
Back in April, during a meeting with representatives of Ministries and agencies responsible for awarding and monitoring government contracts, President Dr. Irfaan Ali had ordered that penalties outlined in several government contracts be enforced for companies that continue to default on their contractual obligations.
At that meeting, the Guyanese Leader also instructed that project updates for several ongoing works be completed for review, and according to Minister Edghill, work has been ongoing to fulfil the President’s order.
The project updates will be provided to Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, and letters of notice will be issued, while the Finance Ministry is tasked with calculating the liquidated damages.
Further, the Head of State disclosed that action must now be taken to strengthen project management teams in the public sector. Consequently, units are now being established at the various ministries and state agencies to assess the performances of contractors carrying out government projects.
Additionally, a Contract Compliance Unit has been established at the AG Chambers to support the work of those units. President Ali had noted that all project managers and senior engineers under this unit would be properly qualified, and it was subsequently announced that 50 scholarships would be given to 50 officers from various fields to better monitor and evaluate projects.
