The Regional Executive Officer (REO) for the Regional Democratic Council Region Four, Pauline Lucas has terminated the contract for the construction of the Supply Health Centre, East Bank Demerara, which was awarded to Navin and Sons Construction Services.
The REO has also instructed the contractor to repay the region monies spent on the foundation and columns, which were found to be substandard.
“I wrote to him outlining the results of the recent tests that were done and indicated to him that he would have to redo the foundation at his own cost. However, he indicated to me that in his view nothing was wrong with the foundation and therefore he saw no need for the foundation having to be redone,” the REO informed a recent Statutory meeting of the council.
“I have therefore written to the Ministry of Communities outlining the issues and thereby seeking the advice in the way forward. As such, the Ministry write me and accepted my recommendation of terminating the contract with the contractor tasked with repaying the region,” the REO was quoted as saying in a press release issued by the RDC on Saturday.
It was noted that the decision to terminate the contract was based on advice from a Senior Engineer and the Auditor General’s office.
The REO further noted that the contractor will also have to bear the cost of dismantling the column and foundation.
The Supply Health Centre was regarded as one of the major health projects for the department in 2018.