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By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 9 June, 2013:
Steven Miller, Senior Vice-President, Shapoorji Pallonji and Co. (SP) said “We are ready to move . . .[restrict]back”, regarding his company’s preparedness to resume its construction contract in Libya.
Speaking in Tripoli at last week’s MEED “Libya Projects 2013” conference, Miller said that his company was simply “waiting for the promised 50 percent upfront payment by the government to move back”.
Miller was referring to the formula suggested by the Libyan government in an attempt to induce contractors to return to Libya and resume their projects. The formula promised 50 percent upon return to be followed by two subsequent 25 percent payments.
“We have not received this yet. We have been waiting for this for months. We already have our employees here. They have been here throughout the revolution”, added Miller.
“But we are ready to move fully back in and work now – in this present security situation. But we need the promised 50 percent – the formula suggested by the Libyan government”, he stressed.
SP operates in Libya as a joint venture as SP Libya Company for General Construction with the Libyan Investment and Development Company (LIDCO). It is working on a project on the Airport Road located Bab Trabulus Project as well as the large tower block project in Benghazi.
Whilst most other contracting companies are waiting for the security situation in Libya to improve prior to returning, SP seems to be ready to recommence their projects immediately.
Asked by the Libya Herald to clarify his comments on SP’s preparedness to start work within the current security situation, Miller reiterated that his company “would have to enhance some of the security measures which would have to be built into the costs”.
However, he was adamant that SP “are ready to move in within 30 days”.
Asked about his type of contracts and pricing structure that SP was working with, Miller replied that SP was working with a fixed price lump sum contract.
“We don’t have cost plus contracts. We are committed to our prices.” [/restrict]
