Kandy Times

The contract work undertaken in the erection of buildings for the Peradeniya campus Science Faculty is incomplete and a request has been made that the final bills for payment be submitted to internal audits after recommendation. But the Senior Assistant Registrar has been informed by the Internal Audit Dept. that the payment could not be made till the completion of the work.

Though the director of the engineering consultant unit had stated that the work had been completed on June 15 and the building handed over to the campus, there is nothing to support the action. The Internal Audit had informed the Assistant Registrar by letter that flaws had been detected in the buildings during investigations on June 1 and 8. Even by June 1, no electrical wiring had been done, while the performance bond was only valid up to June 20. Though work was incomplete, no extension for the bond was sought.

Though the guarantee period was one year according to the contract, fifty percent of the deposit had been paid around February 9, as against the agreement in the performance bond. It was also found that interim payments had been made for work not completed while equipment that had not been bought had been paid for after approval. Though Rs. 171,600 had been paid on 30th December 2005 for 39 wash basins, even by June 8 2006, no work on even a single wash basin had been completed and of the 39 basins only 16 had arrived at the site. Besides, there were cracks on the walls while electricity connections were yet to be made. Some electrical items had been bought by the contractor after paying more than the stipulated rates after getting the approval of the Engineering Section’s Electrical Engineer.