Work on new GAB building disrupted even after payment of contract value

JEDDAH – The consulting house of a disrupted government building for General Auditing Bureau in Jeddah has received funds exceeding the contract value, Al-Madina Arabic daily quoted informed sources as saying, adding that the project was disrupted for five years. The source also pointed out that three employees of the consulting house received nearly SR42,000 in monthly salaries while employees working in the present GAB building suffered from poor maintenance and lack of parking facilities, it said. The contractor received the site for implementing the SR38 million-project on Aug. 31, 2010. The project was supposed to be completed in 20 months. “It was not handed over to the owner on April 30, 2012 as agreed due to the contractor’s negligence,” the source explained. Three years after the site was handed over to the contractor, the owner asked the company to transform it into a smart building and this gave the contractor a chance to delay the project further. The owner was supposed to monitor the progress of work at the project but his negligence has affected work. Ahmed Jouda, project manager of the consulting house, said the contractor noticed problems in soil and design after receiving the site and started work after receiving part of the contract value. After three years, when the project was 45 percent complete, the owner wanted the building to be smart. The owner signed a SR6 million agreement (10 percent will go to the contractor) with a specialized smart building company but lack of coordination and understanding between the contractor and the new company led to the latter withdrawing from the project, Jouda told Al-Madina. The contractor should take major responsibility for delaying the project, he said, adding that the owner should also take part of the blame for asking to change it to a smart building three years after handing over the site. “The contractor should have completed the project in one year and eight months,” he added. Mohammed Ali Badaghish, the contractor, cited five reasons for the delay: Mistakes in design, owner’s smart building decision, long delay in payment of money, changing the design took time by the consulting house, and the design did not conform to flood-combating requirements. “Moreover allocation of funds for new works took two years. We could not get enough space to work freely during official working hours,” he told Al-Madina. The owner had asked the contractor to stop work for completing smart building works such as Internet and central and light systems. He said the smart building company withdrew from the project and we are now in the process of contracting another company to complete work. “We are working hard to hand over the project to the owner after three months. “We have received so far SR23 million in installments from a total of SR29.97 million.”