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Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley says the problems Government is having with local contractors are similar to those it faced with the boldfaced approach of Brazilian firm Construtora OAS SA.
At the commissioning of two segments of the Solomon Hochoy Highway to Point Fortin Extension Project at the Mosquito Creek, South Oropouche, yesterday, Rowley said just as OAS took the Government to court for ludicrous claims after being terminated, so too were local contractors. However, he said it was Government’s duty and intention to defend those legal actions.
“The same way for the last 24 months that we were drawn into legal battles with a foreign contractor who had the gall to want to fight to win when they were in the wrong, having in their control millions of dollars of our taxpayers’ money, hoping to use a long and drawn out process to get away with it, we have similar arrangements with some of our local contractors,” he said.
In 2014, Brazilian and international authorities began investigating OAS’s parent company, Grupo OAS, in a major corruption scandal at state-controlled Petróleo Brasileiro SA. This led to several company executives and state officials being charged. In 2015, the organisation requested court protection from creditors for nine of its units as it struggled financially. On July 5, 2016, the PNM Government terminated OAS’ contract for the Solomon Hochoy Highway Extension Project, months after the bankrupt firm demobilised for the Christmas holiday and never restarted. OAS then took legal action against the Government for terminating the contract. The Government also made a counter-claim and was able to recover close to $1 billion which it reinvested into the project.
Rowley said upon taking office in 2015, his administration found there were a number of instances where some local contractors were treated more generously than they should have been.
Rowley said with Government owing contractors over $4 billion, he has asked them to provide him with details of the projects and the money owed.
Contacted on the PM’s comment yesterday, Contractors Association president Ramlogan Roopnarinesingh said his members were not engaged in making ludicrous claims for projects and taking the Government to court.
Roopnarinesingh said the Construction Oversight Committee being chaired by Rowley will receive a list of claims by his members through the association’s representative, Emile Elias, in an upcoming meeting.