Mistake corrected
Government has moved to correct a clerical error that prevented contractors carrying out road rehabilitation works funded through a loan from the Development Bank of Latin America from being paid.
Leading off the debate on a supplementary to the tune of $7 million in the House of Assembly yesterday, Minister of Transport, Works and Maintenance, Dr. William Duguid said that while some of the work was at an advanced stage, none of the contractors had been paid as yet.
“What essentially happened Madam Chair is when this $7 million was first granted, it was first granted under a particular number in the Estimates SAC 785 Assets under Construction. However the Treasury Department instructed that this was not the correct number at the time and in fact the number should have been Structures rather than Assets under Construction. So rather than SAC 785, it should really be SAC 223,” he said.
Duguid added, “So in order to facilitate the payment of the contractors and in order to facilitate Government being able to make payments on this, the Treasury has asked and by extension the Ministry of Finance has asked that this be under this particular number, rather than under the previous number. So it is actually not a cost to the Consolidated Fund because it is balanced by $7 million being allocated under a previous number,” it was explained.
This hiccup, the Minister stated, prevented monies from being paid out for work that had been completed under the programme. He made the comments while revealing the extent of the work on the roads namely Flagstaff, Rolling’s Road and King’s Village in St. Michael; Lowthers, Christ Church; Harrismith Road, Long Bay Road and Padmore Village, St. Philip and Little Bay in St. Lucy. Minister Duguid said that works at Harrismith Road and Little Bay are 65 per cent complete; Padmore Village is 60 per cent complete; Lowthers is at 40 per cent; while Flagstaff Road and Long Bay are at ten per cent and King’s Village is at five per cent. He added that no work has started at Rolling’s Road to date because there is very little work to be done. His comments came as he gave the assurance that any road works started under the previous administration will be completed. However, he said those on which work has not started, like Rolling’s Road, may not be done as there are other roads which are in a much worse condition.
“These contractors have expended their own money to take some of these roads 65 per cent of the way; can you imagine that not one contractor has received a cent from this project as yet? Some of them would have expended almost a million dollars and they have not received a cent. Some of them, I understand, have been brought to the brink of bankruptcy because the Government did not see it fit to pay them for the work that they had done,” he said.
Duguid said that this scenario is a clear indication of the “mischief” that can occur when Parliament comes to an end, but the Executive continues to function as was the case under the previous Administration. He maintained that if they had taken care of the mistake before Parliament stood dissolved, they would have been able to pay the contractors on time.
“We must be very cognisant and very aware that Parliament serves an extremely important function and cannot be dismissed because it goes to the fundamental ability of the country and Barbados to be able to meet its commitments as it relates to the contractors and the people of Barbados that do work for this country,” he said.
Leader of the Opposition, Bishop Joseph Atherley making his contribution, picked up on the point raised by Duguid about the manner in which the Parliament was allowed to dissolve prior to the May 24, poll, and contended that a fixed date for elections must be the order of the day. Atherley in a short presentation, raised the matter of a fixed date, promising to support such a position if it is brought to the House of Assembly for approval. Such, he maintained, would go a long way in preventing untidiness of this nature again.
(JRT)