Road rehabilitation contractor in Georgia’s west fined $629,664

The Georgian Infrastructure Ministry on Wednesday said the China Road and Bridge Corporation, the contractor company for a road rehabilitation project in the country’s western Guria region, had been fined ₾1.7 million ($629,664) for failing to fulfil the terms of the deal in three sections of the road. 

The statement came in response to a media report and rejected its claims on the company having escaped a fine, further adding the news story about the project had been “saturated with factual errors”.

It also noted the contract with the company had been terminated on one section of the road out of nine due to a delay in the execution of the work per schedule, saying the company had reimbursed ₾4.8 million ($1.7mln) to the state budget.

Calling the media claim about the issuance of the full amount of the project to the company a “lie”, the state body noted the company had received only ₾13.2 million ($4.8mln) for advance payment and actual execution, out of the contract sum of ₾58.5 million ($21.6mln).

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As of today, the company has significantly increased the pace of production of road rehabilitation works. However, the progress of works remains under monitoring and in case of insufficient progress, appropriate measures will be taken as stipulated in the contract”, the statement read. 

The Ministry also denied the information that the construction works in the region had been planned to be completed last year or in May of this year, saying the implementation of the project had been launched in May 2021, with its completion estimated by the end of November 2022. 

Funded by the World Bank, the renovation project of nine road sections - with the total distance of up to 63 kilometres - in the Guria region seeks to improve local road infrastructure, ensure safety and comfort of traffic, and reduce travel time and costs.