Libya's Housing and Infrastructure Board (HIB) has signed contracts with a number of foreign companies to immediately resume three infrastructure projects in Tripoli.
Ali Ferjani, head of the HIB’s Tripoli office, told Libya Herald that the unnamed foreign companies involved in the projects had dropped demands for compensation for losses incurred during last year's revolution.
The three projects, in Tajoura, Seraj and Hadba Al-Khadra, are said to be worth an estimated LD 1.1 billion ($880 million). All three are for infrastructure; no house building has been restarted so far.
The board says the total value of housing construction throughout the country is LD 45 billion, a figure higher than estimated by others in the sector.
Construction contracts in other towns and cities are being reviewed and officials say they hope to restart them early next year provided that negotiations between HIB and the companies originally awarded the contracts are successful.
Ferjani said that funds were available and the invoices would be cleared in a normal way after the signing of the contracts. “According to the agreements, the companies will be paid 50 percent of the invoices for completed work in advance while the remaining 50 percent will be released after on-site confirmation that there is serious work going on and that the companies have restarted the work.”
According to sources familiar with the internal discussions, HIB is planning on paying five percent of the invoice value to settle compensation claims but only if the claims are substantiated after evaluation and verification by the HIB.
(Source: Libya Herald)
