Subject: LAS ALTURAS SCANDAL Fri Sep 19, 2014 6:26 pm
$37 Million Missing ROWLEY, AL RAWI & DICK-FORDE Has questions to answer.
• It should be noted that the Board of UDeCOTT agreed to award a contract of $67.62 to China Jiangsu International Corporation (CJIC) for the construction of 297 apartments. However, UDeCOTT only managed Blocks A and B in which 56 units were built.
Further, HDC managed Phase 2 which encompassed Blocks C – I and yielded 116 units. In total therefore, only 172 apartments were constructed! What this means is that there were an additional 125 units which were paid for but which were never constructed!
SOME QUICK MATHS:
$67.62 million divided by 297 apartments = $225.000 approx per unit ROWLEY said $90 million were spent Only 172 units were delivered $90 million divided by 172 apartments = $523,000 approx per unit So almost doubled was paid per unit.
OR $90 million divided by 297 apartments = $303,000 approx per unit THEN: 172 apartments by $303,000 = approx. $53 Million NOW: $90 Million minus $53 million = $37 Million MISSING!!!!!!!!
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday announced the establishment of a commission of enquiry into the construction of the Housing Development Corporation’s (HDC) Las Alturas Towers housing development at Lady Young Road, Morvant.
She made the comment during her contribution to the 2015 budget debate in the House of Representatives, Tower D, Waterfront Centre, Port-of-Spain, saying the country needed to know more about the wanton wastage that occurred on a project from which no citizen has been able to benefit.
Persad-Bissessar said the probe was being commissioned after two of the buildings (H and I) in the $26 million project were demolished because the land on which it was constructed was unstable. Persad-Bissessar said the Udecott board had agreed to award a contract of $67.62 million to China Jiangsu International Corporation (CJIC) for the construction of 297 apartments, but Udecott only managed Blocks A and B in which 56 units were built.
Subject: Re: LAS ALTURAS SCANDAL Sat Sep 20, 2014 1:10 pm
Dick-Forde: I met HDC in a mess
“When I came into the office of minister in 2007...November, what I found in the HDC was a horror and I knew immediately, from the very first time I saw a report with any numbers on it from the HDC, I knew that there was a serious problem in terms of governance and internal control,” she said. The minister, who celebrated her birthday yesterday, said additionally, there were neither tender rules nor was there a conflict of interest code. “When I came to the HDC, there were no tender rules, there were none and the board worked very hard and we have before us tender rules that we can now take to the Cabinet,” she said. “There were no tender rules at the HDC. There was no conflict of interest code for directors to sign...because there were a lot of conflicts of interest.” - See more at: http://m.guardian.co.tt/archives/news/general/2010/01/06/dick-forde-i-met-hdc-mess#sthash.qAx4PQqV.dpuf
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Posts : 571 Join date : 2011-01-27
Subject: Re: LAS ALTURAS SCANDAL Sat Sep 20, 2014 1:39 pm
PNM ministers deny role in $26m Las Alturas towers
“When I became minister of housing, I met that project there and almost complete. I defy anyone to show my part in that construction [of the demolished structure]. Yes, I finished the two blocks and handed out keys, but I was very surprised when I heard there was another tower because I knew the ground was shifting. It was a surprise to me,” Rowley said.
Subject: Re: LAS ALTURAS SCANDAL Sat Sep 20, 2014 1:56 pm
Al Rawi: Land slippage could not be predicted
Opposition Senator Faris Al Rawi told journalists it would have been impossible to know about land slippage at the site of the Las Alturas housing project in Morvant before 2009. Al Rawi made this statement during a news conference at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.
The $26 million project included a nine-apartment building complex. Announcing a commission of enquiry into the project in Parliament on Thursday, the Prime Minister said Al Rawi was a member of the HDC board when the contract was issued. But Al Rawi walked with boxes of HDC board minutes and other documents yesterday to deny the claim. He said his appointment at the HDC was terminated several months
Subject: Re: LAS ALTURAS SCANDAL Sun Sep 21, 2014 3:26 pm
ROWLEY EXPOSED: The Entire Project Awarded in 2004
When Opposition Leader Dr. Keith Rowley got up in parliament and interrupted Minister Roodal Moonilal from his budget presentation and told the Speaker and the Country that he had absolutely nothing to do with Las Alturas, he was lying through his teeth.
HANSARD: Friday 12, September 2014
Dr. Rowley: Mr. Speaker, I rise under Standing Order 48(6). I had absolutely nothing to do with that. The Member has ascribed that to me and my tenure as a Minister of Housing, I had absolutely nothing to do with that and I ask for your protection, Mr. Speaker.
Dr. Rowley: Mr. Speaker, I rise for your protection under Standing Order 48(6). That project was added after I left the Ministry of Housing, that tower, and I ask my colleague to stop ascribing it to me. I have enough of meh own to carry. If you have nothing to do, do that. That particular tower was added to Las Alturas, after I left the Ministry of Housing by others. There is much more he can say, but why is he ascribing it to me.
REALLY? ROWLEY? REALLY? YOU HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT?
WHEN DID YOU BECOME MINISTER OF HOUSING?
Answer: >--> November 2003
WHEN WAS THE CONTRACT AWARDED?
Answer: >--> March 2004
WHAT WAS THE CONTRACT AWARDED FOR?
Answer: >--> 297 Apartments
YES!!!!!!!!!!!! THE CONTRACT WAS AWARDED FOR THE ENTIRE PROJECT. NOTHING WAS ADDED ON!!!!!!!!!
THE WHOLE PROJECT WAS AWARDED UNDER ROWLEY!!!!!!!!!
Yes, the project was constructed in phases but the entire project was awarded in one contract, under Rowley, so when Rowley said > “Yes, I finished the two blocks and handed out keys, but I was very surprised when I heard there was another tower because I knew the ground was shifting. It was a surprise to me” [GUARDIAN Sunday, September 14, 2014]
How could he have been surprised that there was another tower when the contract was signed for 297 Apartments and the Two Towers completed only yielded 56 Apartments?
AND, if he knew the ground was shifting, why didn’t he go to the Cabinet and stop the project?
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Subject: Re: LAS ALTURAS SCANDAL Mon Jan 26, 2015 11:05 am
VIEW CHANNEL 4 FOR LIVE COVERAGE OF LAS ALTURAS COMMISSION OF ENQUIRY http://gisltd.tt/tv-4
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Posts : 571 Join date : 2011-01-27
Subject: Re: LAS ALTURAS SCANDAL Mon Jan 26, 2015 12:07 pm