The Ministry of Education ended the air conditioning crisis in its schools and educational facilities, by signing 14 maintenance contracts, worth 7.3 million dinars for a period of 3 years, with two contracts for each educational district, and the same for the ministry’s office.
The Educational Facilities and Planning Sector placed new clauses in air conditioning contracts that obligated the company to “replace 30 percent of the current separate air conditioning units with new ones with the same specifications and technical conditions, of highest level of quality, within a period not exceeding 3 months from the date of commencing work.”
According to the specifications document, of which Al-Rai obtained a copy, if the company does not comply with what is required, “this will result in the Ministry implementing the replacement of the device at the expense of the tenderer, with 15 percent charged as administrative expenses, and without the Ministry needing to warn the tenderer, in addition to that the Ministry has the right to apply a fine for this, and to deduct any loss incurred or damages that may result from the delay in meeting these requests, from the tenderer’s dues to the Ministry or government agencies, without taking any judicial measures.”
The document specifies the duration of executing a work order in any area is 6 hours, and 12 hours in the event that there is a need to replace the compressor of the air conditioning units for each work order, explaining that “if the time period required for repair exceeds, the company will dismantle the device required to be repaired, and transport it to the workshops, provided its commitment to installing a replacement device with the same thermal capacity immediately in the same place, and for it to be in good condition without any additional costs.
It stated that “the Ministry has the right, in the event that the company does not commit to carrying out the repair, during the aforementioned period, to carry out the repair and maintenance by its competent technical staff, deducting the cost of that from the tenderer’s account, in addition to administrative expenses at the rate of 10 percent of the value of the repairs and maintenance.
In addition, an educational source confirmed to Al-Rai that the Ministry’s strict conditions will end the air conditioning crisis in schools, especially with the addition of the most important items to it, which is replacing 30 percent of the air conditioning units for each educational district.