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Prime Minister Bruce Golding is threatening to withhold payment to road contractors who carry out shoddy work.
Speaking Wednesday night on his monthly radio call in programme "Jamaica House Live", said his administration will be taking a tough stance on contractors who are hired to carry out road projects.
He was responding to a caller who lamented the extensive damage done to roads which were repaired by local contractors compared to those which were fixed by foreign contractors.
Mr. Golding said he raised the matter earlier this week with officials of the Ministry of Transport and Works.
“Monday morning I had a meeting with Transport Minister Mike Henry and the team from the National Works Agency and that is exactly what I was talking about. I told them I wanted to be satisfied, I wanted them to demonstrate to me what systems are being put in place to ensure that this Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme, that is funded through a loan from China, I wanted to be satisfied that the people who are going to do that work are competent, qualified,” Mr. Golding said.
The Prime Minister is proposing that a portion of payments to road contractors be withheld for a specified period.
“And secondly that systems must be in place that you don’t get paid until we certify that the work has been done to specification and in addition to that, that a portion of the contract money must be held back for a period, I think one year, so that if the roads start falling apart during that year we know that we hold back some money from you in order to take care of whatever remedial work we have to do,”
“We have to get serious; we have wasted too much money and don’t have anything to show for it because of shoddy workmanship, we cannot allow that to happen in the future,” he said.
Speaking Wednesday night on his monthly radio call in programme "Jamaica House Live", said his administration will be taking a tough stance on contractors who are hired to carry out road projects.
He was responding to a caller who lamented the extensive damage done to roads which were repaired by local contractors compared to those which were fixed by foreign contractors.
Mr. Golding said he raised the matter earlier this week with officials of the Ministry of Transport and Works.
“Monday morning I had a meeting with Transport Minister Mike Henry and the team from the National Works Agency and that is exactly what I was talking about. I told them I wanted to be satisfied, I wanted them to demonstrate to me what systems are being put in place to ensure that this Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme, that is funded through a loan from China, I wanted to be satisfied that the people who are going to do that work are competent, qualified,” Mr. Golding said.
The Prime Minister is proposing that a portion of payments to road contractors be withheld for a specified period.
“And secondly that systems must be in place that you don’t get paid until we certify that the work has been done to specification and in addition to that, that a portion of the contract money must be held back for a period, I think one year, so that if the roads start falling apart during that year we know that we hold back some money from you in order to take care of whatever remedial work we have to do,”
“We have to get serious; we have wasted too much money and don’t have anything to show for it because of shoddy workmanship, we cannot allow that to happen in the future,” he said.
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