Don't hide under WB conditions to do shoddy work -Samari

Sapeliga (U/E), Aug. 22, GNA - Mr Alhassan Samari, Upper East Regional Minister, on Wednesday warned road contractors not to hide behind World Bank conditions to do shoddy work under the Northern Floods Reconstruction Programme (NFRP).

He blamed contractors in the region for bidding too low for projects, which experts estimated to cost about twice their bid price only to round into difficulties along the line and blamed it on conditions given by donor agencies.

The Minister gave the warning when Alhaji Awudu Yirimeah, Deputy Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment met contractors working on some selected feeder roads under the NFRP.

He said contractors bid so low for contracts without regard for the dangers associated with the financial and other social commitments involved.

Mr Samari explained that the lowest bidder conditionality compelled contractors to underestimate actual work and how much money they should put into their work to successfully complete them on schedule. He said they should evaluate their bids efficiently to ensure good quality work.

Meanwhile, Mr Baba Imoro Abdulai, road contract expert, has indicated that, a lowest price bidder does not automatically win a bid. He explained that apart from being the lowest bidder, the contractor must be the lowest responsive evaluated bidder.

Mr Abdulai, who is also the Northern Region Zonal Coordinator of the Community Based Rural Development Project (CBDRP), the supervising agency for the NFRP, further noted that the tender board for the Northern contracts were expected to take into consideration, critical evaluation of bid prices through some vigorous processes including the financial and technical post qualification assessments to eliminate non-responsive bidders.

He said after all these processes have been exhausted and there were reasons to doubt the contractor's ability to deliver, he (the contractor) was written to, to justify his ability to execute the job with the cost.

Mr Abdulai, therefore, advised tender boards not to just pass a construction firm's bid simply because its bid price was the lowest.