OSAKA (TR) – Two subcontractors that labored for a primary contractor on abroad pavilions on the Osaka-Kansai Expo are struggling to be paid, reviews Mainichi Broadcasting System (May 13).
One of the subcontractors cited by the community is a small-to-medium-sized building firm primarily based in Kansai. It acquired an order from foreign-affiliated primary contractor, whose headquarters are abroad, for the development of a pavilion.
“As the work got around the midway point to the end, payments suddenly stopped,” an worker of the subcontractor says. “The payment schedule as dictated in the contract was not followed. Construction was completed without payment being carried out .”
The subcontractor claims that about 40 % of the contract quantity and extra building prices incurred as a result of specification adjustments haven’t been paid. The whole unpaid quantity is round 80 million yen.
The subcontractor has repeatedly requested for cost from the principle contractor.
“[The person in charge at the main contractor] has been saying that everything will be fine, so don’t worry,” the aforementioned worker says. “[He says] he’ll transfer the money sometime next week, or even right now. I was hoping that he would do it. But the next week passes, then the week after, then the end of the month, and nothing comes. I don’t know when the company will really go under.”
The subcontractor is at present getting ready a civil lawsuit towards the principle contractor to demand cost of unpaid wages.
Second subcontractor
They will not be alone. Another Kansai-based contractor says that it’s nonetheless owed over 300 million yen in extra building prices for 2 different abroad pavilions.
“They paid us [a part of it] until the construction was completed,” an worker for the second subcontractor says. “As soon as it was finished, we didn’t know [what was going on], so we thought [the non-payment] was on purpose.”
The second firm says that they had been paid the complete quantity of the preliminary contract, however solely paid about half of the extra building prices accrued as a result of adjustments in building strategies that occurred alongside the best way. As a consequence, they haven’t been in a position to pay their subcontractors.
“Criticized the quality”
The community visited the workplace of the Japanese subsidiary of the principle contractor.
Regarding the owed cash to the primary subcontractor, a consultant of the principle contractor stated, “When the pavilion was handed over, the government [the client] criticized the quality. There were parts that we corrected. As well, there were parts that we decided would not be completed in time and took over the construction. If we offset those costs, there is no contract fee left to pay.”
Regarding the non-payment of extra building prices to each the primary and second subcontractors, the the consultant acknowledged, “It is taking time to investigate. We are not trying to default on the costs, and we have not engaged in any illegal activities.”
“Private matter”
On Tuesday morning, Yoshitaka Ito, minister for the Osaka-Kansai Expo, commented over the non-payment difficulty.
“Contractual issues are basically resolved through discussion between the parties,” Ito stated, “but we are aware that several similar cases have been raised by companies. As a government, we intend to urge participating countries to confirm the facts and take responsible action.”
In response to an inquiry by the primary subcontractor, a consultant of the affiliation working the Expo stated, “If the issue was that a participating country had not paid [construction costs] to the main contractor, we could instruct the participating country [to take action], but since this is a private matter, we cannot get involved.”
In response, the primary subcontractor stated, “We had hoped that the country, the government, the association, or some other organization would properly listen to our concerns and respond. It is very frustrating. I still think that we shouldn’t have gone ahead with the construction at the Expo.”
The motto for the Expo reads, “Design Future Society for Our Lives.” It appears, nonetheless, that sentiment doesn’t apply to the businesses that truly constructed the pavilions.