THERE?NEEDS?TO?BE some distinction between the requirements for small contractors and larger ones in Barbados.
And according to Professor Avinash Persaud, the man now in charge of the multi-million dollar Four Seasons Project at Paradise, St Michael, such an approach would allow smaller contractors to get more benefits.
Persaud made this call while addressing a class of Construction Management students at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, last Wednesday.
“We need to create more competitive industries including construction. So one of the things we debate on is how do we get small contractors involved in projects whilst at the same time being competitive and having high status . . . . Some requirements completely exclude small companies. So that is one type of challenge we have,” said Persaud.
After the presentation, he said that value and quality of management were two key areas to pay attention to.
“So when you do a tender with those things in mind, it will tend to favour the larger contractors. So we are trying also to support smaller contractors by demarcating certain packages of work that we would focus on smaller contractors. We are also going to encourage larger contractors if they win tenders that they sub-contract to smaller contractors,” he stated.
Persaud promised that at the Four Seasons, they were hoping to “spread employment as widely as possible”.
He described the construction industry in Barbados as “lumpy”.
“There is feast and famines. Today there is a fair amount of government contracting work, however, that work will not last forever. But I certainly think that we are finding it easier to operate today than let’s say, four or five years ago,” Persaud said.
