SR1bn loss due to delays in sewage project

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"These violations were behind the delay in the execution of a sewage network in the central and northern districts of Jeddah," the report said.

According to the report, the general budget of the state has incurred losses of hundreds of millions of riyals because of the delay in the implementation of the project.

"Many years have passed since the beginning of work in the project without the officials being able to finish it or execute the high orders regarding it," the report said.

"This is the highest budget for a sewage system in any city in the Kingdom including Riyadh," it added.

"The contractor has recorded the delays of 26 months judged by the accomplishment rates he had registered during the first 10 months of the duration of the contract," it said.

Based on the report of the consultant monitoring the execution of the project, which was the Saudi Ittihad Engineering Company, the General Auditing Bureau attributed the delay to the inability of the contractor to provide enough manpower and equipment. The bureau also indicated its unhappiness over the extension of the contract by a further 13 months by the Ministry of WaterMinistry of Water under the request of the contractor.

"This has incurred losses of about SR19 million on the state budget," it added.

The report also said the confidence of the Ministry of WaterMinistry of Water in the contractor was the main reason behind the delay in the execution of the project.

It said the Ministry of Finance had proposed to the chief of the office of the Cabinet, before the signing of the contract, to make its duration at least five years because of the large size of the project and the substantial amount of money allotted for it but the Ministry of WaterMinistry of Water refused this on the ground that the executing company was a specialized one, very qualified in executing sewage schemes and had the ability and experience to finish the project within three years.

The report said in its justification to make the duration of the contract three years, the Ministry of WaterMinistry of Water warned that any delay beyond this time might cost the government millions of riyals annually because of the rise of the level of the surface water that might damage ground services and the buildings.

The General Auditing Bureau issued its report after random field visits to the sewage projects and a series of meetings with the monitoring consultant, representatives of the contractor and the department of water in Jeddah.

It presented its recommendations regarding the project which, among others, included the reviewing of the extension given to the contractor because he had violated the rules of extensions embodied in the government's purchases regulations and because the approvals for the extension were based on unrealistic data that ignored the mistakes of the contractor and his inability to execute the project on time.

The bureau recommended that the project be implemented in its original time of 36 months, the contractor be fined for the delays and also be made to incur expenses of any additional construction work.

The General Auditing Bureau called for the formation of an investigation committee comprising representatives of the Ministry of WaterMinistry of Water and the directorate general of water in Makkah to question those responsible for the extension of the duration of the project. It suggested that based on the results of the investigation, a technical committee should be formed to check all the other items of the contract to see if they were in line with the government rules of purchases.

© Arab News 2009