MORE THAN 300 COMPANIES listed as contractors with the Urban Development Commission (UDC), have been purged from the list mainly because of shoddy work and incorrect or "not in service" telephone numbers. The action was taken after the UDC board ordered that a thorough examination be carried out following repeated complaints by householders about the poor standard of work done by several contractors. Of the 506 companies originally listed as contractors, 313 have been removed. As part of the examination, a research team called all the listed contractors over a four-month period and it was found that over 150 of the companies had either provided incorrect numbers, were not listed at all, their telephones were out of service, or there was no answer to the call. Of the others, close to 100 had either abandoned a project or displayed untimely or poor workmanship. Others were simply not interested or qualified as contractors. In one case, the "contractor" turned out to be a carpenter. Some of those purged from the list are facing legal action, while debt collectors are knocking on the doors of others. "What the research discovered is that many of these so-called contractors were just posing as fronts and they simply sub-contracted the work in order to try to get it done," a well placed source said. "In the cases of those now facing legal action, or the debt collector, these companies would have received ten per cent of the mobilisation fee for the project up front, but had abandoned the job or had failed to complete it . . . . ," he added. With the conclusion of their findings, the UDC board is now acknowledging 193 companies as authorised contractors, 57 of which are currently engaged in the house repair/replacement programme. In the January to April, 2007 period, the UDC issued 93 new contracts: three for new houses, 28 for house repairs, 33 for South Coast sewerage connections and 29 for wells. A total of $1 334 678.50 was expended during the period, while 70 clients benefited from the ongoing work. At the end of April, the commission had on its register 87 applications for new houses - 15 of which have been approved by Town and Country Planning. Three of these houses have already been completed. "After all the complaints, the present board, headed by Sir Henry Forde, has mandated that the UDC put systems in place to ensure that qualified contractors are awarded contracts." (CG)
|
