Costly jetty price row is settled

A long-standing dispute over the cost of a Guernsey jetty has been resolved.
The original budget for the work at St Peter Port was about £2.5m when it was first proposed in 2002, but contractors demanded £27m when it was completed.
The States went to mediation to settle the dispute and it was agreed the fee should be £9m.
Public Services Minister Bernard Flouquet said the final cost would be about £14m, which included the dispute's legal costs.
Financial bond
After work started it soon became clear that the structure was in a worse condition than at first thought.
An open-ended budget was then agreed by the States in 2003, but the final total that contractors claimed was contested.
The then public services minister, Bill Bell, said the claim was contested after the work was finished in 2005 because he was determined not to waste taxpayers' money by paying over the odds for capital projects.
Speaking in the States on Wednesday, Mr Flouquet said: "The total costs will be in the region of £14m, inclusive of all legal and technical services incurred by the States."
He added that a list of additional works had also since been undertaken by the contractor at its own cost and that a financial bond was drawn up to safeguard the States from being charged for the extra work. (from BBConline)


Will it happen again on another project? in my veiw YES.....