COMPLETION AND APPROVAL CERTIFICATES AND DEFECTS LIABILITY PERIOD

54.(1) Certificate of Practical Completion

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Save as otherwise provided in the Contract, the Contractor shall be entitled to receive a Certificate of Practical Completion when the Works have reached a stage which allows their use for their intended purpose without danger or undue inconvenience. 

If requested in writing by the Contractor when the Works are about to reach the said stage, the Engineer shall, within 14 days after the request, issue to the Contractor a written list setting out the work to be completed to justify the issue of such Certificate of Practical Completion.

    (2) Issue of Certificate of Practical Completion

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As soon as the work referred to in the list issued in terms of Sub-Clause (1) has been  duly completed, the Engineer shall issue to the Contractor and to the Employer a Certificate of Practical Completion together with a further written list setting out the work to be completed tojustify the issue of a Certificate of Completion.

    (3) Employers right to occupy completed Works

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Upon the issue of the Certificate of Practical Completion, 

(a) the Works shall be deemed to have been completed for the purposes of Clause 46(1),

(b) the Employer shall be entitled to take occupation of the Works, provided that the Contractor is given reasonable access to complete the Works in terms of theContract.

    (4) Certificate of Completion of the Works

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As soon as the work referred to in the further list issued in terms of Sub-C1ause (2) has been duly completed, the Engineer shall issue to the Contractor and the Employer a Certificate of Completion;

Provided that the Engineer shall be empowered to issue such Certificate leaving any work or the remedying of defects, as specified therein, to be completed by a date stated in the Certificate and the Contractor shall be obliged to complete the work specified by that date. Should the Contractor fail to complete the work by the specified date, the Defects Liability Period (if any) shall be extended in respect of that work by the amount of the additional time taken by the Contractor to complete the work specified, and the terms of Clause 56(4) shall apply mutatis mutandis.

    (5) Consequence of Certificate of Completion

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Upon the issue of a Certificate of Completion, unless otherwise provided in the Contract,

(a) the Suretyship shall be released in terms of Clause 10,

(b) the Defects Liability Period shall commence,

(c) the retention shall be reduced to half in terms of Clause 52(5),

(d) the possession of the Site shall revert to the Employer, and

(e) insurance of the Works shall cease in terms of Clause 38(1)(a).

    (6) Different dates of completion

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If, in terms of the Contract, different dates of completion are specified in respect of different portions of the Works, the aforegoing provisions shall apply mutatis mutandis in respect of each of such portions.

55.(1) Final Approval Certificate

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The Works shall not be considered as completed in all respects until a Final Approval Certificate shall have been delivered by the Engineer to the Employer and the Contractor stating the date on which the Works have been completed and all defects corrected in accordance with the Contract.  

Such Final Approval Certificate shall be delivered by the Engineer as soon as practicable after the completion of the whole of the Works or of the expiration of the Defects Liability Period, as the case may be, or as soon thereafter as any works ordered during such period pursuant to Clauses 30, 54 and 56 shall have been completed in accordance with the Contract, and full effect shall be given to this Clause notwithstanding any previous entry on the Permanent Works or the taking possession, working in or using thereof or any part thereof by the Employer;

Provided that the issue of the Final Approval Certificate shall not be a condition precedent to the payment to the Contractor of the second half of the retention money in accordance with Clauses 52(5)(a) and 52(5)(b) or to the release of the Retention Money Guarantee, whichever is applicable.

    (2) Approval only by final Approval Certificate

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No certificate other than the Final Approval Certificate referred to in Sub-Clause (1) shall be deemed to constitute approval of the Works or shall be taken as an admission of the due performance of the Contract or any part thereof or of the accuracy of any claim made by the Contractor, nor shall any other certificate exclude or prejudice any of the powers of the Engineer.

    (3) Time limitation on claims in respect of defects

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The Contractors liability for any latent defects shall continue beyond the date of the Final Approval Certificate but the Employer shall have no claim against the Contractor arising out of any latent defect which first manifests itself later than 10 years after the issue of the Final Approval Certificate in terms of this Clause, and the provisions of the Prescription Act (Act No 68 of 1969, as amended) shall apply in respect of any latent defect manifesting itself during the said period of 10 years.

56.(1) Defects Liability Period

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The expression "Defects Liability Period" in these General Conditions shall mean that period stated in the Appendix, calculated from the date of the issue of the Certificate of Completion or, in the event of more than one Certificate of Completion having been issued, calculated from the date of the relevant Certificate for each portion of the Works.

   (2) Making good of defects

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To the intent that the Permanent Works shall at or as soon as practicable after the expiration of the Defects Liability Period be in the condition (fair wear and tear excepted) required by the Contract, the Contractor shall, during the Defects Liability Period, execute all such work of repair, reconstruction, rectification and making good of defects, shrinkages, settlements or other faults as may be ordered in writing by the Engineer.

All such work shall be carried out in terms of the Contract and shall be completed during the Defects Liability Period or within such time thereafter as the Engineer shall in writing allow, if the necessity for the work being completed later is reasonable and not attributable to any fault or failure of performance by the Contractor.

If such work is delayed by the Contractors own fault, the Defects Liability Periodin respect of the work concerned shall be extended by the additional time taken by the Contractor to effect completion of that outstanding work.

   (3) Cost of making good

   (4) Remedy on Contractors failure to carry out required work

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If the Contractor shall fail, for 28 days after receipt of written notice from the Engineer, to do any such remedial work required by the Engineer, the Employer shall be entitled to carry out such work by his own workmen or by other persons, and,

(a) if such work is work which the Contractor should have carried out at the Contractors own expense, the Employer shall be entitled to recover from the Contractor the cost thereof, and

(b) if the cost of such work, had it been performed by the Contractor, would have been assessed and paid for as specified in Sub-Clause (3)(b), the Employer shall be entitled to recover from the Contractor the amount by which the actual cost exceeds the cost which would have been so paid to the Contractor.