Workers under the Constituency Development Program are asked to be patient as government rationalizes documentation relating to requests for payment.

Contractors who worked under government contractual agreements prior to June 6, are asked to exercise patience as government attempts to rationalize the processes and documentation relating to requests for payment.

Minister for Economic Development, Hon. Guy Joseph, said while he is aware that projects are normally undertaken under the Constituency Development Program which is a source of income for many persons, there was a departure from best practices during the pre-election period that now makes the process of issuing payments onerous.

The minister noted that millions of dollars worth of works were executed in the first half of this year. Unfortunately, there were no allocations to pay persons for services rendered at the time, and the new government had to seek the assistance of the Embassy of Taiwan through the Constituency Development Program (CDP).

“I was able to put a report together to submit to them [the Embassy of Taiwan] and as a result they have now given us the first allocation of US$5 million. All of those funds will go towards paying for the projects that were executed.”

Minister Joseph said a second disbursement is expected to be presented to the government soon which will also go towards issuing payments.

He called on contractors to be mindful of the agreements they enter into, as loose arrangements can pose difficulty, when seeking compensation.