Marriott contractor under fire in T&T over shoddy works

The building which has since been shut over reportedly shoddy works by Shanghai Construction Group.

The National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago has been shut down over shoddy works under taken by Shanghai Construction Group, the same company working currently on the Marriott Hotel in Kingston, Guyana.

This has led to stakeholders questioning the quality of work being done by the Chinese contractor as it relates to the Marriott Hotel.

This call is said to be even more pertinent in face of the news coming out of the neighbouring twin-island republic coupled with the opaqueness of the project locally.

While the Chinese contractor is claiming that a lack of maintenance led to the closure of the multi-million-dollar facility, the government is saying otherwise.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Arts and Multiculturalism, Dr. Lincoln Douglas, said: “And the Chinese are saying the issues with NAPA and SAPA are maintenance? A lot of them have design flaws. They have poor workmanship. Why do you think NAPA is closed down? The stairs in the building are not even. Is that poor maintenance?”

He is reported in the Trinidad Express as saying that even one of the catwalks in the building was built without rails.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Arts and Multi-culturalism, Maurice Suite, is reported as saying that the building is closed for a number of reasons.

“It is a combination of different things. They had design flaws. We had some maintenance issues. And in some cases, we are dealing with how things were put together. We have an agreement to address some of the issues.

“Some of the things may not have been constructed properly and they have agreed to address those issues. There were some things we were not satisfied with. We are working with Shanghai Construction to address those concerns.”

Dr. Douglas has claimed the facility had deteriorated and multiple problems identified, which would cost the state millions of dollars to repair.

Meanwhile, the Chinese company is defending itself saying that the multimillion-dollar facility needs a long-term maintenance contract to keep it at a high standard.

This is according to officials of SCG International (Caribbean), which constructed the facility commissioned by the People’s National Movement (PNM) administration and opened in 2009.

The company said it would continue to respond to calls from NAPA to repair any problems until contractual arrangements are made for the maintenance of the building, which cost almost TT$500 million and was described by then Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, as a masterpiece.

Last month, Occupational Safety and Health Authority (OSHA) inspectors ordered the closure of a part of the facility, citing badly secured lighting fixtures, shattered glass panes, and issues with air quality.
Shanghai Construction Group was awarded the contract to build the local Marriott exactly one week before the 2011 elections and the project has been mired in controversy to date.

Only this past week, it was reported that despite the announcement of financial closure with ACE Square Investment Inc, the private investor is yet to put a dollar in the project.

To date, NICIL, representing Government of Guyana as a shareholder, has officially expended almost US$20M building the Marriott Hotel in Kingston.

Winston Brassington, the Head of Government-owned NICIL, which is responsible for state investment, and who is at the helm of the hotel project, recently announced that Ace Square Investments Limited would be putting the US$8M required to own majority shares of the hotel, but ever since the announcement, the principals have never been presented to the Guyanese people. Also, the agreements have been kept a secret.

Prior to the NICIL money, Government had awarded Courtney Benn Contracting Services Limited a US$1M contract for the re-routing of the sewerage system in the Kingston locale. That contract was pulled after more than US$700,000 was paid over. It was then given to an overseas company, for a further US$2M.

Atlantic Hotel Inc, the partially-owned Government company overseeing the hotel project, also leased the prime, almost seven acres of shorefront property on which the hotel rests, for a measly US$120 (G$24,000) per month with the option to buy.