Majority of contracts on track – Dr Jagdeo assures

– rejects opposition’s claims of corruption, poor planning

Despite the opposition’s attempts to suggest otherwise, majority of the contracts being executed across the country are on track and progressing well.

This assurance was given by General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo during his weekly press conference at Freedom House.

It follows President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali’s Tuesday engagement with cabinet members, contractors, permanent secretaries, and engineers in the wee hours of the morning.

During that meeting, approximately 40 contracts that have been delayed for more than four months were discussed.

Dr Jagdeo noted that opposition operatives sought to give the impression that the meeting was evidence of widespread corruption.

They even contested that the engagement demonstrated incompetence and poor planning in government.

He dismissed these arguments as another pathetic attempt by the opposition to distract from their own incompetence.

“Who is inefficient and who lacks planning? The last government had no plan whatsoever. They couldn’t even implement basic stuff. And you are comparing that to what we have done about planning? In every sector we have a clear vision of what we want to accomplish,” Dr Jagdeo argued.

Contrary to the opposition’s postulations, Dr Jagdeo explained that this meeting addressed a small subset of the massive work underway nationwide.

He said that about 95 per cent of the contracts being executed are progressing well.

Moreover, the government is honing in on this small portion of delayed works with a view of ensuring they are back on track and completed efficiently.

“We want to see the best for the people of this country, and we are not going to just ignore the 5 per cent that have not been done well…shoddy work, etc, just to create an impression that everything is good. We are not going to ignore that,”

Dr Jagdeo further emphasised, “Once 95 per cent of the contracts are being done well, we are going to laser in on the 5 per cent where we have problems. We are going to focus on those. We are not going to ignore the concerns of people.”

The government has in place a rigorous master plan for infrastructural development across the country. This plan sees tangible investments in road construction and rehabilitation, a massive housing programme, improved water supply and sanitation as well as transport, health, and education infrastructure.

The GS even told reporters that “If you look at it cumulatively, there have been maybe 40,000 -50,000 contracts that have been done since we got into office, the majority of which have been completed.”

He asserted that the meeting demonstrated the government’s commitment to transparency and reflects that the administration remains “tuned in” to the needs of the people.