The Council of Ministers’ Board of Experts has directed the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs to create a database for contractors that should include details of projects that have been executed or that are still under construction, as well as those that are delayed, said a source.
The directions included reviewing the categorization of the contractor according to information available about him. The ministry must then implement measures, added the source.
The ministry must put in place a defined mechanism for the application of penalties stipulated in the categorization system of the contractors, to be imposed either on the main contractor or the sub-contractor if a contract exists without the authorization of the original owner of the project.
The Board of Experts said the database should be created with the coordination of the Saudi Council of Chambers and the e-government program Yesser prior to linking it with the unified national database on government projects.
Abdullah Radwan, head of the contractors committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the Cabinet wants to know the reasons for the distressed projects or the delays in implementing them.
The Cabinet formed a committee in this regard, he added, questioning whether it is the government, the system, or the contractors that are behind such delayed projects. “The whole picture will unfold once information becomes available,” he said.
Omar Al-Ghamdi, general manager of Rawah Real Estate Establishment, said the database would contribute to finding solutions for the main obstacles facing the implementation of government projects. “The application of penalties will positively be reflected on the level and quality of implementing the government projects,” said Al-Ghamdi.
Nabil Abass, representative of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) in Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries, estimated the delayed claims of the contractors incurred on government bodies to be worth more than SR100 billion, about 30 percent of the total volume of the projects.
Database on projects planned
