Sand Creek apartment complex, health centre left incomplete by contractor though large sums paid
-Auditor General’s report
The construction of five apartment buildings in Region Nine was abandoned by the contractor after the Regional Administration paid in excess of $16 million for the project.
According to the 2016 Auditor General’s Report the contract for the construction of five apartment buildings at Sand Creek was awarded for $22.304 million but no details on the tendering and award were provided for audit.
The works comprised the construction of a five-apartment, reinforced concrete flat building complete with plumbing, rainwater and electrical installations, septic tank and soakway but the date on which the contract was signed and the duration and defects liability period for the works could not be determined from the payment voucher examined at the time of the physical verification, the report notes.
Additionally though, at 31 December 2016, the contractor had received payments totalling $16.217 million for works completed. Physical verification revealed there was an overpayment of $4.852 million.
Further, the works were incomplete and the site was abandoned; no personnel or equipment from the contractor was on site.
A similar situation obtained at the Sand Creek Health Centre where the contractor appeared to have abandoned the work after receiving $5 million in overpayments
The $11.486 million contract for the extension of the Health Centre was awarded to the second lowest of four bidders and
signed on June 20 2016 with a duration of fourteen weeks for completion while the defects liability period was three months.
As at 31 December 2016 the contractor received payments totalling $10.338M for works completed but at the time of the physical verification on June 24 2017 only the ten percent retention sum of $1.148M was not paid to the contractor though physical verification showed that the works were incomplete and the site was abandoned.
“No personnel or equipment from the contractor was on site and an overpayment of $5.407M was discovered,” the report explained.
The works comprised the extension of the existing health centre building inclusive of plumbing, rainwater and electrical installations, construction of a new septic tank and soakway and minor rehabilitation works to the existing building.