HDC. 655 Projects with NO written contracts under Rowley

Rowley talking about resigning on “allegations” This is Rowley track record at HDC. 655 Projects with NO written contracts, so HDC can’t hold the contractors accountable for bad work and that is why HDC now have to spend over $150 million to correct bad work from under Rowley watch.

QUOTE: In her statement, Dick-Forde was critical of the fact that there was no written contract between the HDC and the project’s contractor NH (International) Caribbean for the so-called joint venture. Chow yesterday admitted the lack of written contracts could put the HDC at a disadvantage. But yesterday Dick-Forde revealed while she had queried the lack of a written contract in the Cleaver Heights project, all 64 of the large projects and all 591 small projects of the HDC have no written contracts. She said she was not aware of this when she filed her statement in January.

http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/print,0,100170.html

“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.”

http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/dickforde-i-met-hdc-in-a-mess-6.2.326884.56ff6b2698

For¬mer Peo¬ple's Na¬tion¬al Move¬ment (PNM) min¬is¬ter of hous¬ing Emi¬ly Gaynor Dick-Forde said she found "un¬ac¬cept¬able" prac¬tices at HDC when she took over as min¬is-ter in 2007.


In the af¬ter¬math of Thurs¬day's shake-up at the HDC and sub¬se¬quent rev¬e¬la¬tions of a mas¬sive $10 bil¬lion mis¬spent un¬der the PNM, Dick-Forde broke her si¬lence and spoke out on what she in¬her¬it¬ed when she took over the min¬istry from her pre¬de¬ces-sor, now Prime Min¬is¬ter Dr Kei¬th Row¬ley. Dick-Forde was the line min¬is¬ter re¬spon-si¬ble for the HDC from 2007 to 2010, while Row¬ley had that min¬istry from 2003 to 2007.

Dick-Forde first told the Sun¬day Guardian she "had noth¬ing to say" about John's rev-e¬la¬tions that some $10 bil¬lion was spent from 2007 to 2009.
"This is a flu¬id sit¬u¬a¬tion. I think I should just wait and see how this goes be¬fore I say any¬thing," Dick-Forde said. "What I can say is that un¬der my watch, I found things were un¬ac¬cept¬able and did all I could and brought in good peo¬ple at the HDC."
Dick-Forde would not clar¬i¬fy if that meant that those who worked with Row¬ley be-fore she took over were bad for the or¬gan¬i¬sa¬tion.
In¬stead she di¬rect¬ed the Sun¬day Guardian to the Par¬lia¬ment Hansard of Feb¬ru¬ary 2010, where Row¬ley, who had by then been back¬benched by for¬mer prime min¬is¬ter Patrick Man¬ning, was pos¬ing ques¬tions on spend¬ing at the HDC, specif¬i¬cal¬ly the award of a $20 mil¬lion con¬tract. Dick-Forde was ab¬sent from Par¬lia¬ment that day and then works min¬is¬ter, now Fi¬nance Min¬is¬ter Colm Im¬bert, re¬spond¬ed to Row¬ley's ques¬tions on her be¬half.
Im¬bert said then that Evolve Part¬ners LLC had pro¬vid¬ed in¬sight in¬to the op¬er¬a¬tions at the HDC and found "in¬ad¬e¬quate front end project plan¬ning, pre plan¬ning of projects in¬clud¬ing fi¬nal plan¬ning ap¬provals and clear de-signs for de¬vel¬op¬ments were non-ex¬is¬tent for the ma¬jor¬i¬ty of the projects."
Im¬bert said then that the con¬trac¬tor al¬so dis¬cov¬ered that the HDC showed an "in¬con-sis¬tent ad¬her¬ence to com¬mon process¬es" and a lack of co-or¬di¬na¬tion with key stake-hold¬ers, con¬trac¬tors, sup¬pli¬ers, pub¬lic util¬i¬ties, statu¬to¬ry agen¬cies and the Gov¬ern-ment. Evolve Part¬ners LLC al¬so said that "sup¬port process¬es were in¬ef¬fec¬tive–fi¬nan-cial con¬trol, al¬lo¬ca¬tions, project man¬age¬ment."

http://www.guardian.co.tt/article-6.2.372843.4c62d7f5f6


QUOTE: In her statement, Dick-Forde was critical of the fact that there was no written contract between the HDC and the project’s contractor NH (International) Caribbean for the so-called joint venture. Chow yesterday admitted the lack of written contracts could put the HDC at a disadvantage. But yesterday Dick-Forde revealed while she had queried the lack of a written contract in the Cleaver Heights project, all 64 of the large projects and all 591 small projects of the HDC have no written contracts. She said she was not aware of this when she filed her statement in January.

http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/print,0,100170.html

“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.”

http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/dickforde-i-met-hdc-in-a-mess-6.2.326884.56ff6b2698