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By Durrant Pate
Senior Staff Reporter
Transport and Works Minister, Mike Henry, has called in the Auditor General’s Department to verify some $700 million dollars in claims submitted by government contractors for work done under the Special Flood Damage Programme on behalf of the National Works Agency (NWA), and for work carried out following the passage of Hurricane Dean in late August.
This is the second such call by a Cabinet Minister on the Auditor General’s Department, to probe billing for projects within their portfolios, within the last two weeks. Last week, Energy, Mining and Telecommunications Minister, Clive Mullings, called in the AG’s Department to conduct an audit of all expenditures incurred in respect to the Cuban Light Bulb Distribution Project.
The Auditor General, Adrian Strachan, is now being called in by Minister Henry amidst suspicion that some of the bills submitted by contractors may have been inflated, as the levels of work in some cases, were being viewed inconsistent with the price tags submitted to the ministry through the NWA. The AG has been asked to carry out an audit of the entire amount outstanding to the government contractors by the NWA, and to verify the amounts based on the work done in the field and details of the billing.
The decision to call in the auditors was about a week ago after the ministry and the Cabinet were presented with an update of the outstanding bills to the NWA for hurricane and flood damage work done over the past six months. For the period up to August 31, the outstanding bill ran close to $700 million. Close to another $300 million is being anticipated for the period between September and now, based on the volume of road repair work that has been ongoing in response to rain damage over that period..
A breakdown of the $700 million bill showed that over $240 million was for repairing Hurricane Dean damage and general clean-up efforts. The amount is due to a long list of small to medium level contractors for work, including the reinstatement of roadways, clearing of land slippages and cutting away of fallen trees.
The second portion of over $430 million was for work done under the Special Flood Damage Programme under the Petro Caribe financing arrangement, as approved for the 2007/2008 financial year.
While the probe is on, some of the government contractors were said to be growing restless at the long delay in some cases, for them to get payment.
http://www.sunheraldjamaica.com/coverstory4.htm
Senior Staff Reporter
Transport and Works Minister, Mike Henry, has called in the Auditor General’s Department to verify some $700 million dollars in claims submitted by government contractors for work done under the Special Flood Damage Programme on behalf of the National Works Agency (NWA), and for work carried out following the passage of Hurricane Dean in late August.
This is the second such call by a Cabinet Minister on the Auditor General’s Department, to probe billing for projects within their portfolios, within the last two weeks. Last week, Energy, Mining and Telecommunications Minister, Clive Mullings, called in the AG’s Department to conduct an audit of all expenditures incurred in respect to the Cuban Light Bulb Distribution Project.
The Auditor General, Adrian Strachan, is now being called in by Minister Henry amidst suspicion that some of the bills submitted by contractors may have been inflated, as the levels of work in some cases, were being viewed inconsistent with the price tags submitted to the ministry through the NWA. The AG has been asked to carry out an audit of the entire amount outstanding to the government contractors by the NWA, and to verify the amounts based on the work done in the field and details of the billing.
The decision to call in the auditors was about a week ago after the ministry and the Cabinet were presented with an update of the outstanding bills to the NWA for hurricane and flood damage work done over the past six months. For the period up to August 31, the outstanding bill ran close to $700 million. Close to another $300 million is being anticipated for the period between September and now, based on the volume of road repair work that has been ongoing in response to rain damage over that period..
A breakdown of the $700 million bill showed that over $240 million was for repairing Hurricane Dean damage and general clean-up efforts. The amount is due to a long list of small to medium level contractors for work, including the reinstatement of roadways, clearing of land slippages and cutting away of fallen trees.
The second portion of over $430 million was for work done under the Special Flood Damage Programme under the Petro Caribe financing arrangement, as approved for the 2007/2008 financial year.
While the probe is on, some of the government contractors were said to be growing restless at the long delay in some cases, for them to get payment.
http://www.sunheraldjamaica.com/coverstory4.htm