President of the T&T Contractors’ Association, Mikey Joseph, yesterday welcomed the $300 million injection from the Government that will be used to off-set the more than $2b debt to contractors.
Joseph said the money is still better than nothing, but stated that not many contractors would have their bills settled, given the financial circumstances the country was facing.
“It is my hope that in doing that (paying contractors) they would look at the smaller contractors who would not have the resources and wear-it-all to withstand the issues of banking interest and penalties and all of that would affect their businesses severely right now. I hope they deal with this as a matter of priority,” Joseph said.
At Thursday’s post-Cabinet press briefing, at the Office of the Prime Minister, acting Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert, admitted that he had signed off on $300 million to pay contractors whose invoices have been validated.
The news came two months after Joseph called on Government to settle a staggering $2 billion outstanding payment it had for contractors.
As to whether Government can pay that entire $2 billion in the next month, Imbert said he doubts it and he has no idea where that figure came from.
He also stated that he asked big spenders such as the Educational Facilities Company Ltd, Ministry of Works and Housing Development Corporation (HDC) to provide the Ministry of Finance with validated outstanding bills.
Yesterday, Joseph said approximately $800 million was owed to the Education Facilities Company Ltd (EFCL), while HDC had an outstanding bill of $640 million.
Other State-agencies that owe contractors Joseph said were WASA, Regional Health Authorities and Ministry of Works.
“Let us assume that of the $300 million that has been signed off, $100 million went to EFCL and $100 million went to HDC. I know for a fact that the Minister of Finance has over $180 million in approved certified bills coming from the Ministry of Works under the Programme for Upgrading Roads Efficiency (PURE) programme on his desk. It tells you that not much money would be paid.”
Joseph said PURE alone would absorb two-third’s of the $300 million if they were to be paid.
He said one problem faced by some contractors was that their debts had not been fully certified.
“The reason for it is because the State enterprise when they recognise their debts is ridiculously high they stop certifying. If they don’t certify your payments you have no chance of bringing it to court after four years.”
Joseph said they were willing to meet with Imbert to have a cordial discussion in an attempt to resolve the dispute.
“We are part of the country, nation and its development. The minister does not always have to look for cash to pay contractors. We can sit down and discuss other ways (to settle the debt). We can come to an amicable arrangement.”