Extension of Time

Regarding your recent enquiry regarding Extension of Time and asked me to send you a short reply. Normally, an event causing a delay will occur before the contractual Time for Completion and the Contractor must make his claim within a given time of the event occurring (Red Book Clause 44.2, Yellow Book Clause 26.1). The Engineer must then respond with a given time (or a reasonable time) - he cannot wait until completion to see if the Contract actually needs the time extension. If the event occurs after the contractual time for completion and the Contractor is running late, he may still be entitled to an extension if the circumstances have caused him even more delay (and it was not his fault). If the Engineer does not grant a time extension (or reply to the Contractor's claim) within the currency of the Contract, it would depend very much on the circumstances, and I would suggest that he cannot call liquidated damages until he has replied to the Contractor's claim and definitely rejected it. Normally the Engineer will only grant an extension of time if the Contractor applies for one so I cannot see an Engineer granting an extension "for no reason" - normally it would be in response to the Contractor's claim. The question of costs will depend on the circumstances. If the Contractor can prove he has suffered extra cost, then maybe he is entitled to reimbursement - but it is not an automatic right and will depend on the circumstances.As you will see, any matters concerning extensions of time depend very much on the circumstances at the time and it is very difficult to give general answers. The intention of the FIDIC Conditions is that the matter shall be dealt with as quickly as possible so that the Contractor knows if he will get an extension and so that he can then plan the rest of his works accordingly. If the Contractor is of the opinion that the Engineer is unreasonably delaying the matter, he should read Clause 5.1 (both books) and see if this can help. - See more at: http://fidic.org/node/915#sthash.H0GkqEib.dpuf