The Ministry of the Interior, in its announcement, lists the facts in relation to the employment solution of the engineer and the contractor of the "Reformation of the Fishing Shelter and the River in Liopetri" project.
Such is the announcement
In relation to the employment solution of the engineer and the contractor of the "Reformation of the Fishing Refuge and the River in Liopetri" project, for the information of the citizens, the Ministry of the Interior lists the following facts:
The works for the first phase of the Project, according to the contract, started on September 18, 2020, with a contractual completion date of March 18, 2023 (project duration: 30 months), for an amount of €8.117.000. After securing a significant number of justified approvals from the Departmental Changes and Claims Committee (CCC) and the Central Changes and Claims Committee (CCC) for a time extension (a total of 22 months in addition to the original contractual time), the Project completion date was postponed to January 14 2025.
However, despite the approval of the above requests for extension of the completion time, the response of the contractor was not as expected, since reduced and extremely slow rates of progress were recorded throughout the duration of the Project.
It is recalled that in order to remove the impasse, to which the Project was leading, the Department of Urban Planning and Housing (TPO) had repeatedly held meetings with the contractor and the Project Engineer, some of them under the Minister of the Interior and in the presence of the Local Authority , the other co-competent Departments (Department of Fisheries and Marine Research, Department of the Environment, etc.) and the affected professionals active in the area, in an effort to exhaust every margin for the completion of the Project.
Despite multiple notices to the contractor and the Project Engineer to comply with their contractual obligations and to take all necessary measures to expedite the work, both the contractor and the Engineer failed to honor the commitments given. On the contrary, the contractor and the Engineer at times made excessive demands, not complying with their obligations, as a result of which huge delays were observed in the completion of the Project, the terms, specifications and procedures were not respected, the quality of the works was not ensured and the timelines for securing co-financing are over.
As a result, the Project which was at 50% completion a year ago, is now only at 55%, serious cooperation issues between the contractor and the subcontractors are observed and, therefore, there is no possibility of its completion within the specified schedules.
At the same time, due to the delays and prolonged stagnation, the activity of professionals in the area (fishermen, restaurant owners, etc.) is affected for a long time. At the same time, the non-acceptance and utilization of the Project has chain-related consequences for the development of the Community and the region more broadly.
It becomes clear from the above data that the Contracting Authority has exhausted all the margins and has given more time credit, showing good faith and tolerance to the contractor's promises, at a time when no milestone has been reached on his part throughout the entire duration of the Project. Assessing the facts and finding that it is practically impossible to cover the long delay that exists in the Project, in an effort to mitigate the consequences and damages caused by the chronic non-compliance of the contractor and the Project Engineer, with the instructions of the Minister of the Interior, the TPO proceeded last week to terminate the employment of the contractor and the Engineer due to their fault and due to non-compliance with their contractual obligations.
The correctness of the decision to terminate the contracts is also confirmed by the findings of the Audit Service's relevant report on the matter, which was received yesterday by the TPO, which records, among other things, the unjustified delay in the completion of the Project and the need to take drastic measures towards the side of the contractor and the Engineer.
The goal of the Ministry of the Interior after this development is to find the most suitable alternative feasible solution for the release, continuation and completion of the Project. In this direction, the Ministry of the Interior and the TPO are considering various possible remedies, so that the Project can be completed as soon as possible under the circumstances and at the lowest possible cost.