'We needed more time'

A building company executive caught up in the multi-million dinar Isa Town flyover fiasco today described the struggles his company has been facing, writes Anasuya Kesavan.

Although the official gave his name and said he was 'in charge' of overseas business for the troubled Sungwon Corporation he asked for it not to be published unless 'officially' approved.

He was sitting with a colleague in an office, its air-conditioning unit switched off, situated on the construction area near Isa Town Gate as outside scores of labourers and construction workers idly stood chatting and wondering what to do next.

The official from Seoul, South Korea, says his company has been requesting the Bahraini government for 'understanding', the release of funds and 'more time' to complete the Isa Town project at a cost of more than BD40 million.

Shaken by recent developments he frequently ruffled his fingers through his hair, saying the situation had reached a stage that Sungwon Corporation had not 'intended'.

He said: "The project, an extremely important one for the company, has been facing numerous obstacles right from the beginning. We have suffered in the financial recession like everybody else.

"We had requested the Ministry support us for just one-and-a-half months until March and release the 10 per cent they keep as guarantee for work completed.

"We have to pay our sub contractors who are also suffering. If the Ministry released the funds then they would continue to provide their services and the work could have continued. But, this request was rejected.

"Financially we are in a difficult position and we are trying to sell off a lot of properties in Seoul to bring in a substantial amount to cover the situation. So, it is just a matter of time."

The officials claimed that earlier payments on the project had been delayed which had exacerbated the problems, an allegation strongly denied by the Ministry of Works.

He said: "The problems have not been created today. Construction work has to proceed on schedule but without payments for certain months how can a contractor be expected to continue the project on schedule?"

The official claimed the three-level interchange project, which includes flyovers and an underpass had been delayed by unforeseen obstacles such as the discovery of underground pipelines and high voltage cables that the company was given no record of.

He said: "Everyday we encountered something new as the digging progressed and this was one of the major reasons for delays at the beginning.

"The Ministry was reported to have said that it had no responsibility for these matters but we have our own point of view."

Now that the process has started to find a replacement construction firm to continue with the work, Sungwon Corporation says it will be calling in legal and technical experts to fight their case at arbitration.

"We have to support 400 people here. We have to feed them and pay them without doing any work and we are responsible for sending them back to their own country. It is driving us from a bad to a worse situation, day by day."

The termination of Sungwon Corporation's contract for completing the Isa Town flyover has far reaching consequences. While the agony for school run parents, school buses and drivers of an estimated 6,000 vehicles per hour will continue, the contract stalemate is going to severely hit the livelihoods of around 400 low-paid labourers who are currently sitting idle at the company's campsite.

Some of these skilled and unskilled workers have been recruited for the project from Nepal, Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, Morocco and Korea and are earning salaries starting as low as BD52 a month.

Having paid the recruitment agent in advance, the workers arrived in the kingdom 12 to 14-months ago on two-year contracts and are grappling with the prospect of an uncertain future and the inevitability of paying back loans they took to secure work.

They told GulfWeekly that they had not been paid since November and work had come to a standstill at the end of January. While a section of the workers had approached the Ministry of Labour with their problems they were also coming to terms with the knowledge that their company was facing financial problems.

Krishna from Nepal said that he and many of his fellow countrymen did not have a proper job before they came to Bahrain. On their first trip abroad they had paid agents up to BD600 to secure labouring positions here. Most of them had families and parents to support and had not sent any money home for the past three months.

Speaking in Hindi, a worried Krishna, added: "We don't know how long we will have to wait before all this is sorted.

"We are doing nothing but sleeping and eating and wasting our time ... at least they are giving us food to eat but we don't know when that is to stop.

"Yesterday they have told us that there will be no salary for the months we have not been working. The company officials are telling us that they don't have money to pay us!"

Kim Tong Chum, a foreman from Korea, said that he is not planning to leave until he gets his salary. Most are hoping that the new company contracted for completing the project will hire them.