Nurses must not be the ones held at ransom

 DUE to a dispute with the National Housing Commission (NHC), the buildin­g contractor of the completed accommodation at Gerehu has not handed over the keys to the Nurses Association.

If the contractor be­lieves he is owed his 

dues, he has the right to bring it to arbitration.

Similarly, the NHC can do the same if it thinks it 

is being overcharged by the contractor.

In most building contracts, it is usually the president of the Institute of Architect who will act as the arbitrator.

There will be an independent assessor to value the claims and resolve the issue.

If awarded the variation, the contractor is 

also entitled to claim interest on the outstan­ding amount.

The client, in this case  the Nurses Association, should not be penalised because the administrator of the contract is engaged in a tug-of-war with the contractor.

This is usually the case when there is no transparency in the awarding of government contracts.

Hamanga

Port Moresby