Gov’t ministries to establish special units to evaluate contractors’ work – AG Nandlall

In a firm stance against defaulting contractors, special units will soon be established within various ministries to evaluate the performance of all contractors executing government projects.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, SC said the memorandum was issued last weekend for the immediate establishment of these units, which will be empowered to institute a range of sanctions on defaulting contractors.

“There is now a mechanism that is established in all the ministries, and that mechanism is to dedicatedly monitor and evaluate the performance of contractors who are executing contracts in those respective ministries,” he explained in his weekly programme ‘Issues in the News’ on Tuesday.

The memorandum specifies that any fundamental breaches of contracts should prompt immediate notification to the contractors, with remedial provisions for sanctions invoked promptly.

“This is another demonstration of our government’s commitment to move condignly against contractors who are negligent in the discharge of their contractual duties. These units are now being established and they should be up and running in a very short period of time,” Minister Nandlall added.

The AG made it clear that undue delays and breaches in contracts will not be tolerated and warned contractors to discharge their duties conscientiously.

Additionally, the Ministry of Legal Affairs has established a dedicated Contract Compliance Unit to facilitate effective contract implementation.

This unit will provide relevant legal advice and guidance to the other ministries and also has the authority to take action against non-compliant contractors, including initiating legal proceedings when necessary.

This move follows a recent directive from President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, during a meeting with several project managers and engineers.

During that meeting, the president said any projects exceeding their contracted timelines would face strict consequences, and announced the establishment of an independent team to oversee these projects.