The blame game continues between different government offices about the delay of sewage drainage network projects in Jeddah, with the Ministry of Water and Electricity laying most of the responsibility at the door of Jeddah's Mayor's Office. The company which was contacted by the Jeddah Mayoralty to carry out vital sewage projects worth SR1 billion since 2005 in north and downtown Jeddah, had failed to do so within the deadline set by the contract, an official source at the Water and Electricity Ministry said. The projects were due to be completed by 2008. The company was watched closely by authorities, however. The Control and Investigation Board (CIB) had observed many administrative and technical violations during the execution of the projects, the source said. But the company had blamed a sudden price rise in construction material and fines it had been slapped with, for not meeting the deadline as specified by the contract. The company had earlier been granted an extension of 13 months to complete its SR1 billion project, but had failed to do so. The extension was baseless and unlawful, the CIB said. The CIB said that poor performance of the contracted company had led to the delays and had resulted in extra costs for the government. When the company was first approached by the National Water Company (NWC), an offspring joint stock company from the Ministry of Water and Electricity, the sewage company offered to start a 614-km-long integrated sewage network in the city, the source said. Abdullah Al-Husayyen, Minister of Water and Electricity, had earlier authorized the NWC to supervise all projects of underground water and treatment of sewage water. The contracted company said it would work in areas where it was not possible to lay sewer lines with open excavation for SR1.4 billion; and for SR749 million in areas where horizontal directional drilling would be used. The offer put a four-year deadline to complete the project. According to the source, the company also attempted to get further work by introducing another project, to link the main sewer lines through horizontal drilling for SR430 million, and to use a six-meter-deep horizontal drilling for SR465 million across different parts of the city. The company asked for 36 months to complete the two projects. The Projects Department at the Ministry of Water has rejected the CIB's report that had held the company accountable for delays, citing reasons beyond the contracted company's control. The construction of bridges and underpasses at main intersections by the Jeddah Mayoralty had contributed to the delay of sewage draining networks the company was working on, according to a committee of consultants formed by the Projects Department at the m inistry. The contracted company needed many work areas that were not accessible as the mayoralty kept working on them and even changed many road directions, which would eventually delay all mapping of new sewage lines, the ministry's committee said. There was also a delay in the approval for sewage work from the mayoralty itself and the Traffic Department, the ministry's committee added. The source said that the company was not given control of the sites planned for sewage work included in the original SR1 billion contract, which required a 36-month extension period to finalize sewage work. The 13-month extension period required by the contractor was not sufficient to complete the project, the ministry's committee said. The ministerial consultant group supervising the city's sewer project supported the contractor's request for an extension. The company said it would ask for compensation to cover for extra funds that was not covered by the contract deal price. Meanwhile, the CIB has continued to monitor the new sewage projects awarded to the company. The CIB's report rejected the contractor's justifications regarding delayed permits from authorities, saying that many companies carrying out state projects had found the permits easy to obtain. The CIB report finally recommended reconsidering regulations for granting extensions to projects and to impose fines for any delays. It recommended that a committee consisting of members of the Ministry of Water and Electricity and the General Directorate of Water in Makkah Region should be formed to investigate all extension requests and decisions. It should also conduct a thorough assessment of each extended contract to examine the reasons for the extension.
