The Melville Hall Airport Road project known as Lot 2 remains problem-plagued, despite an announcement this week by Public Works Minister Rayburn Blackmoore that two new sub-contractors were being brought in to assist in the completion works.
Still very disturbed by the circumstances under which its members have been treated on that project is the Dominica Tipper Truckers association.
The association has called for an explanation from government about long overdue payments being awaited by truckers working on the road project.
The truckers contracted on Lot 2 have stayed away from work for several weeks, after their attempts to get monies owed to them failed.
Association president Earl Laudat says Contractor Jacques Gharddarkhan has indicated that he has not been paid by the government.
“He gave a deadline in June when we are not working because we don’t get money now he talks about September so how do we go to work?” Laudat said.
He added that Minister Blackmoore “never once even call us and say look you all have a problem let’s see how we can resolve it. We went to him, he say take Gharddarkhan to court, we cannot go to work because we are not getting paid”.
Laudat told Dominica News Online that contractor Jacques Gharddakhan has indicated that he has not received money from government, which he cited as the reason for the delay in paying the truckers.
“Up to this morning I met with the main contractor Gharddakhan. He said government has not paid him. We need to know who is telling the truth and who is not,” Laudat insisted.
“I’m hearing on radio that Blackmore give new contractors contracts to work on the project – what about the truckers in Dominica that have worked for the contractor, I mean every time you get to the politicians with a problem they seem to be hiding behind you and the next person,” an angry Laudat told DNO.
On Monday Minister Blackmore announced that two new sub-contractors: Offshore Civil and Marine Inc and Dipcon Engineering Ltd were brought in to help complete the road project.
The minister told reporters that the additional contractors have been given specific instructions to focus on areas where the original contractor had fallen short.
“The intention so far is to have the work segmented. Two additional contractors with the competence will be given two segments of that project, segments where the main contractor has not been able to demonstrate a sense of commitment to finishing the work. There has been an agreement among all parties to move the project forward”.
Blackmoore says the aim is to ensure that the project is completed within the shortest possible time.
You folks are too divided… All hands should be on board to make this thing have some teeth..
That would include the civil service, Farmers, hotel workers, Hucksters, business men.etc .if all don’t get together to show government they mean business in the end all will suffer…
There is Change in NUMBERS!!! If Not u all wasting time and the project will finish by outsiders and you still will not get paid. By then the bank will seize some Trucks, property etc…Get the people together Stop wasting time!!
the truckers association need to discuss this matter thoroughly with governmemt officials because that is going out of hand what know of that government is not owing emile gaddarkhan et fils to confirm payment are to be made through the european office and the cash are disburst to the contractors this is becoming to complex the contractor must pay the people that work they are too untrue and desloyal moreover it will affect work production and preventing work completion on the lot2 pondcasse to marigot road
we still didnt hear how the workers getting paid .all we hearing is that the work has to be done and a little bit of fopa by the first contractor
So the PM have money throwing away to able working men and people who are trying to make an honest living cant get paid??? Now i dont understand how in the world people can defend that stuff. Just Dont!!!
They have to take Gadawhatever to court; if Government really owing him he will bring government into the case as 3rd party.
you would say that would you???? call a third party and find out if my i can get my tax return from that empty treasury.
I entered into an agreement with a contractor to bould my house It was stipulater in the contract that he would supply both labour and material and I would pay up front to him something called mobilization fees. I took a loan to cover the cost of the building project and the Bank would disburse moneys to me to pay the contractor according to certificated amount for work done as calculated by the assessor. There came a time when the contractor slacked up, material was short and the amount on the certificate of assessment for work done was not sufficient for the contractor to pay his workers. This went on over a 4 month period including things done wrong that he had to re do. The labourers came to me and told me the contractor said I was not paying him so he could not pay them. I told them I was not their employer and that I was on good footing as far as my indebtedness to the contractor was concerned. One worker was extremely verbally abusive to me, even bordering on him getting physical. They kept insisting that I owed them. Two of them took me to court and lost miserably. The court said that they had not shown proof that I was their employer. They were advised that they should take the contractor to court since he had employed them.
I am wondering if the truckers know of this case.
It seems to me that the truckers need to exersise their right and might against the person who contracted them. Yes they can ASK government to interceed for them but I do not see how they can hold the government to be accountable. It makes no sense to send stones at the coconut tree if it is mangoes you want.
that’s why all my data is on flash drive…..all that spinning cds and record players making me
DIZZZZZZYYYYY
U can give people money so u can pay them trukers pm and his party they have there family to give food and pay bills and vat vat vat vat vat vat that party have to go stupesssss
It is interesting when the truckers by Williams and Nassief we have to pay them one time and high to. So why all you doing work for the man and not aking for all you money one time on the poor people all you have strength. Was Government there when you made the alone/single handed deals with the man
dat U fink!!
The contractor HAS to pay the truckers, regardless of the issue. They don’t work for the government, they work for the contractor and the contractor needs to pay them and not blame the government for the truckers not getting paid. The contractor however, could complain anout THEM not getting paid by the G-ment. Trying to turn the truckers against the G-ment is WRONG, MALICIOUS and MALEVOLENT!!! And by the way, we pumping eight million $ into Liat and we can’t seem to pat up to finish our roads?
Hard working people, want to be paid to feed there families,and you sending Eight million dollars to LIAT, well well well…
Oh OK! moi ka gardez tourjours. Where are the spinners?
The Minister brought in new sub-contractors …. But the Minister has not addressed why the original contractor has not been paid so that the truckers can be paid
This is pure madness and can only happen in Dominica. The truckers should stage the mother of all protests in what ever way, shape or form that will get them their hard earned money!!!!
let them don’t stage a massive protest for their monies and just stay there playing nice boys and talk, talk, talk like parrots and think Skerro and MoreBlack will save them.
TRUCKERS GONE SOFT……. family suffering and bills cannot be paid….WHERE ARE ALL THE MEN??????……NO TESTICULAR FORTITUDE
i want to ask one question , did the truckers work for the government, did government ever employ the trucks , so where is the minister or skeritt coming in that dominicans please think before making comments , understand think then make your comment, government is not gardakan
so why government don’t come up and stop Gardarkan from spreading rumors??
you people are BEYOND wicked and BAD MIND…..this is just PURE EVIL!
Personally I find mr ladakh is out of place ,asking govt about payment. Who did mr laudatory and the truckers work for .?
is this the new mantra to justify the government being BAD PAYMASTERS? or maybe to justify an empty treasury????? which is it??
it seems like trucking is not consider to be a industry in d/ca the minister dont think that the truckers of dominica dont need to eat?. bills need to be paid? he must one day tell us why he hate jack so much that he dont mind we lost the project and d/ca will have to get a loan to finish the project LIAT will lean usthe money.
the man can not think for his self.
Did the government hire you? The answer is no. Did the government sign a contract with you? Again the answer is no!!!
You are just being emotional.
The person who hired you has to get their act together – get a bank to cover them. When that company did the roads in another country they had that arrangement with a bank. Why can’t they do the same in Dominica?
my good anonymous friend, you do not want to talk about BANKS….. please keep quiet before I start to talk…then the whole place will stink and ur master might all get vex with you for just mentioning the word BANK…… go and get further instructions before you bring up that word BANK again….
Instead of these cowards DEMAND their hard earned money immediately, they asking for and EXPLANATION instead. Excuses are easy to find and they will create a million for them.
Drivers if allu really want allu money, stand up like men and DEMAND it. The govt know you have the means to extract it from them, but they also know that that you are little cowards that prefer the government more than feeding your wives and children.
Why should the Truckers demand an explanation from the Government? Who employed them? Wasnot it Ghardakhan? Mr Ghardakhan please collect from whom is owing you and pay the Truckers.
Isn’t it Ghardakhan who is owingthe Truckers? Then Ghardakhan should get his money from Government and pay the Truckers.
Stop making everything political in Dominica and using everyone as scapegoats.
Ghardakhan please pay the Truckers.
It seems to me that Dominica will have a repeat of the 70s.
There is no way in my sound mind I could support Skerrit giving LIAT 8 million dollars whereas truck drivers are not getting paid. These people are sick!
Then again, the youth have no values now; they are divided and hopeless sorry to say.
When did my ppl become so Foolish nah boy? 1979 et al your commenst are real sickening and foolish..
First of all WHO DID THE TRUCKERS WORK FOR? Why aren’t they raking Jack to Court? The gGovernment cannot do anything about that?
If it was me they would find all kind of lawyers from trinidad to take me to court and they fraid Jack!!!
This is disgusting, Mr Laudat boss you and your truckers had an agreement / contract with Jack, you agreed to do the trucking for which he would pay a certain consideration… he failed to pay take the damn man to COURT my brother and stop wasting precious time crying for intervention from Government they have nothing and i mean ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with it!!!
Stop Making Jack play stupid POLITICS with all you, he realize you all are very political and foolish so he using government as an excuse!!!!!
Talk to a lawyer boss, i recommend Ducreay he is very good and start the process of recovering yuour money going!!!
Free advise…..
EHHHHEEEMMMMM your government is SOOOOOOO BROKE, they can’t pay for works completed….. JUST last week they had to give a promissory note to the NBD so that they could…………………… boy…..
don’t DIG me….. I will Issue you and that government of yours something else FOR FREE!!!!!
IF i WAS jACK, I would Differ All vat payments to what the government OWE….. let the IRD collect my money from the government, that should cover VAT….. then again…..if allu tie up government department that there as well….
boy allu really think we dumb…
all your free advice will just encourage me to AIR OUT your administrations dirty laundry…..if I were you I would just keep quiet.
DNO, this story continues to puzzle. I wonder if someone could clarify. I seem to be missing a fundamental piece of the story in terms of the contractual relationship between the government and the “main Contractor- Jacques Gharddarkhan” and the “two additional contractors- Offshore Civil and Marine Inc and Dipcon Engineering Ltd”,” who were also referred to as “Sub-contractors”. Appreciate if Admin could clarify this matter and subsequently refer to the respective Parties to the Contract correctly so as to avoid confusion.
On Monday Mr. Blackmore announced that two new “sub-contractors” were brought in (meaning were sub-contracted by the main Contractor Gharddarkhan) to help complete the road project.
Now we hear the following:
“Laudat told Dominica News Online that contractor Jacques Gharddakhan”
“Earl Laudat says Contractor Jacques Gharddarkhan”
“ I met with the main contractor Gharddakhan”
How many companies are in Contract with the Government of Dominica on this project? If Gharddarkhan is the main Contract responsible for the project, then does it mean that he is ultimately responsible for the work of these sub-contractors or are these additional companies independent Contractors with the Government? If so, are the truckers working for all three Contractors? My immediate question above would not make sense as Minister Blackmoore has already advised the truckers to take the main contractor Gharddarkhan to court, if they are not paid.
Unless I am completely missing the point, I do not understand how the government could simply announce the employment of the services of two new sub-contractors or additional contractors. The assumption is that the contractually relationship remains between the government and Emile Gaddarkan et Fils and the reference to two additional contractors is incorrect.
In the final analysis, whoever owes the truckers must show them some respect, meet with them, discuss their concerns respectfully, don’t BS them and pay them what is due as it would seem that government has a lot of disposal income to spread around. But then again, government shouldn’t have any difficulty in paying the Truckers for work done as the project is not 100% funded by government. Please shed some light.
block them roads they will talk to alu hahahaha
I wonder how does Mr Blackmore feels about this? I just saw an article saying that truckers are asking for their money for working for working on the roads and now, 8 million going to Antigua. I wonder if he knew about this?
all those who support this nonsense, there is a saying
A HARD HEAD, MAKES A SOFT
who cannot hear will surely feel to learn…..
……….I am wondering how Gardahkhan feels knowing that he hasn’t been paid so he can pay the truckers and 8 M going to LIAT
Hey Dominica….My true confession…
Lots of signs…
but none so blind…
as he who will not see…
loyalty to party…
is the road to poverty..
has division brought progress?
are our people enjoying success?
Anti-hate has 3 jobs..lol
DNO I LOVE THIS ONE, HOW SHARP IS THE CONTRAST NOW?????????????????????????
???????????????????????????
??????????????????????????
??????????????????????
is those who cannot afford to pay their bills, who love GRANDEUR!!!! free flights for the truckers and their families……
whose tail is this bailout REALLY saving???
ask the hard questions dumminicans….. do we export any food via liat?? more and more is our productive people who leaving on liat…..
chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, skerr…. dip in your wallet and pay them man and vex with them eh.
This contract is between the truckers and Gardarkan no te rucker and the Government. Remember that LIAT introducedthe CARGO plane into Dominica? you all still using the LIAT Agents to send up all you boxes for free, u all are too ungratefull.
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh zip it…… it doesn’t bother you to know your treasury EMPTY like your HEAD???
BY THE WAY…….. I make sure that when i travel that I DO NOT travel on LIAT….they are TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO UNRELIABLE…. bankrupcy and new management might even help liat..
ERGO liat has no impact on my life….. a certain person won’t be able to give free tickets come election time…..does that make you mad?????????
If i remember correctly a FREE MARKET system existed in Dominica and the caribbean by extension….
why is the government trying to stifle competition??????????? are they getting some perks to FOSTER A NEW MONOPOLY in the name of LIAT??????
i know that the big shots would benefit alot from that kind of arrangement ESPECIALLY when it comes time to give election “presents”……
but what will the ^%&*** who are supporting this gain????????????????????????????????????? maybe they know BETTER THAN ME….
What demand explanation they should demand they pay! Don’t make any move before they get it. Skerrit CANNOT use Government has no money for an excuse to anybody who is demanding their money from this Government because he has ig money to take care of other countries and other companies business.. I have never ever seen a Government get away with so much in my life!! DNO don’t post it if you think you will be SERVING Dominica and yourself by not posting this comment! OR remove what you want from it as usual CENSORING free speech we call that in DEMOCRACIES which Dominica seemed to have moved away from!
Who did you work for?
you is not your children in need, nor your loan to pay, nor your equipment to maintain, is not your lights and water to pay……….okay warranted.
but ONE DAY it will be YOUR END in the sling…. and I pray you don’t meet a crate like you to ask you…
WHO DID YOU WORK FOR???
find that rock and crawl back under it!!!!!!!!!!!
Is simple maths…..truckers work for contractor Jacques Gharddakhan,…..contractor Jacques Gharddakhan contracted & work for Government. Government doh pay contractor Jacques Gharddakhan…..contractor Jacques Gharddakhan cannot pay truckers.
skerrit do have no damn explanation for allu’that isn what tony tell allu even if u all vote for him.laborrrrrrrrrrrr take what allu get .
alrighty then!
hmmm give liat 8 mil none for truckers this man need to be more human but some day he will be brought to submition
please refer all concerns of non or late payments to the Liat office. address letters to the new PRO of the DLP Mr. T. Astaphan (in the event of unavailability of these representatives please refer correspondences to WIKILEAKS & PEEPING TOM solicitors ET al).
LMAOL
It’s too late fellas, that plane leave the airstrip already…. I think it was a liat dash-8 fight 8.. tail number 8-mln…
Lol
lets all laugh together, till we have to hug each other and cry together