Dear Editor,
Now that serious defects have arisen on the health centre at Supply, East Bank Demerara, being defects in the substructure, it should be observed how the Region Four Council would proceed to either have the responsible personnel or contractor repair said defects, or reimburse the public purse for damage caused; though it must be noted that the contractor involved may not have accepted responsibility, to date.
In January 2017 after news broke about the even more extensive defects at Kato Secondary School, no less than four Cabinet Ministers visited the location: the Ministers of Education, Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Social Cohesion and Public Infrastructure; the latter said that the building was in a much worse state since the previous audit report, and was pictured easily breaking a concrete slab with his boots. The consultant Rodrigues Architects was prior contracted to conduct a technical field audit and its particularised report included findings that “the foundation and frame (were) 20 to 25 percent below the specified strength” and “the building (was) unsafe for children”.
In July 2017 the Department of Public Information (DPI) released that a (scaled-down) inter-Ministerial team of the Junior Minister of Public Infrastructure and officials from two Ministries, along with representatives from the defaulting contractor, Kares Engineers Inc, and two consultant personnel: one each from Vikab, and the Ministry of Education’s (MoE) Building Unit, Mr Phillip Smith had visited. The Junior Minister announced that the certificate of Practical Completion had taken effect and the MoE Consultant said “… it was fantastic to have the remedial works completed in such record time based on the damning reports originally received.” Soon after, Stabroek News referred to the DPI release and reported the Junior Minister as saying that repairs were completed and all was well; the MoE Consultant’s remarks were repeated. (SN 03.09.2017) Thereafter your newspaper appears to have quietly dropped the issue.
The Junior Minister never cleared up why the original consultant, Rodrigues Architects was displaced in the ‘certification’ inspection; or disclosed that the MoE Consultant who rendered a ‘fantastic’ response to the completed work in light of “the damming reports originally received” was also a sitting APNU+AFC Councillor in the Georgetown City Council. Nor did she point out how the integrity of the “damning report” was respected and addressed in the final, certification visit; for example, precisely what was the value of the replaced concrete strength, and what was the basis of the building now being assessed as safe for children, which was never even mentioned by DPI. Given the media waves successfully generated by the current administration over the Kato defects, which were clearly the responsibility of the past administration, the sudden lack of transparency over remediation leaves one aghast. And there is more, since there is an undispersed cloud over the track-record of Vikab, one of the supervising consultants to the remedial works (SN editorial 21-05-2017). Perhaps the media could follow up. (In January 2018 this author made an application under the Access to Information Act for a copy of the Practical Completion Certificate, but to no avail, so far).
But all is not lost, perhaps the Junior Minister and/or one of her team members could edify the Region Four Council on how to rapidly address the foundation defects, whoever is at fault, at the health centre at Supply.
Yours faithfully,
Donald Rodney
