New governmental provisions against delayed contractors include a stipulated amount of time to develop construction projects, in a bid to prevent lengthy and expensive undertakings.

As part of the regulations, contractors with overdue projects will not be able to acquire new government bids if they have surpassed 10 percent of the original schedule stated in the contract.

According to officials, the decision to exclude contractors with hindered projects must be issued by the competent authorities and the exclusion period should not exceed three years from the issuance of the ruling.

Muammar Al-Atawi, head of the contracting committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), lauded the government’s decision on the grounds that it will speed up construction projects.

“It will regulate the awarding process and will close the previous gap in the government bidding process, where any contractor with a poor and bad record can vie and compete with other contractors with untainted records, and win the new projects anyways,” said Al-Atawi.

However, he also pointed out that there are a number of gray areas not covered in the regulations, such as delays caused by third parties. These legal gaps could be misused by some officials, he said, since problems caused by governmental departments can also spring during construction.