PM: Contractors being paid

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said Government is committed to paying contractors who have legitimate claims. Rowley made this point to reporters after a tour of the Red House in Port of Spain yesterday. Noting that contractors are claiming to be owed a total of $4 billion, the prime minister said half of that money is attributed to “questionable” claims by two contractors.

He said one contractor has a claim of $1.2 billion against the Government and this claim is being contested. Rowley said another state enterprise, which does maintenance work, has a debt of $1 billion. Of the remaining $2 billion, Rowley said some of these include justifiable claims which Government has been paying. “No client pays claims because a contractor says so. You have to examine the claim to determine whether the contractor has a justifiable claim,” Rowley said.

“We have just come out of a period where claims have been the scandal of the century.” Rowley said Government was unable to get much of its work done because it had to spend a lot of the revenue it raised last year and this year to deal with contractors’ claims. He said some of the same contractors complaining about debts owed to them are being hired by Government to do new work.

“As you give them new work, you now owe them additional money.” He hoped this sum would be reduced over time and more relief would be brought to small contractors who are more vulnerable to non payment by Government.