In an effort to complete the New Providence Road Improvement Project (NPRIP) on time, the goverment told project managers to disregard cost overruns and allow “inconvenience to the traveling public,” according to an exclusive report in The Nassau Guardian.
An ongoing probe of the project by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House of Assembly has revealed that the project enginers wanted clarification from the government whether priority was to be given to completing the project on time, completing the project within the contract price, or completing the project within the original scope of works.
The engineers streaased that a choice needed to be made becasue all three objectives could not be achieved simultaneously.
The government’s position was documented by a mandatory disputes board set up as part of the government’s contract terms with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The IDB provided the intial $113 million in financing to start the project, which is now estimated to be $40 million over budget due to new components to the project, unanticipated costs delays in design and the rising price of raw materials.
Earlier this year, Jose Cartellone Construcciones Civiles (JCCC), the Argentinian firm tasked with the construction of the project, told the government it would be completed in early 2012.
The company now says that the project will not be completed until September, 2012.
