Core homes ‘corrective’ works
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), Hamilton Green has defended the decision to sole-source contractor Ivor Allen for the execution of corrective works on several homes under the Government’s Core Homes Project.
In documents seen by Guyana Times, the Board said that by way of round robin, it selected Ivor Allen to execute the works on the homes it listed as “moderate income”.
The Board in an internal memorandum, dated June 10, 2016, stated that it had considered and approved Ivor Allen to be awarded the contract to execute the corrective works to 11 houses (lot numbers provided) at Providence, East Bank Demerara.
Based on the information seen by this publication, the Board of Directors of the CH&PA handpicked Allen, a close associate of the coalition Government, the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC).
According to Green, the Board handpicked Allen since he was one of the four contractors that built the core homes and the only one whose constructions were done without complaints from the occupants. “It turned out that only one of the four contactors houses we received no complaints from, that contractor was Ivor Allen…we felt it prudent that since he had worked in that area to award him the contract to do corrective works.”
Green further highlighted that the reason the contract for remedial works did not go to tender is because the 11 houses outlined were the “worst cases” and the corrective works were deemed “extremely urgent.” He noted that at a meeting, the residence complained that “it is inappropriate for them to have a house that they can’t use, can’t occupy.”
“We could not wait to proceed with tenders because the people were anxious, paying mortgages and paying their rent. People complained to us in tears about the conditions, some doors moved away, some can’t close, it’s really a horror story,” said the CH&PA Chairman.
As it relates to the discrepancies in cost outlined for the remedial works, Green said that the Board had no confidence in the figures given by the engineering core since this is the same group that produced figures from time to time, which resulted in the very poor quality work.
“I am prepared to anchor our reputation on the one contractor who did works for which we received no complaints… the Board is not prepared, to either deal with that estimate or give it to the same engineering core and have two weeks after, to receive complaints that we have been receiving from the occupants,” he noted.
The Chairman surmised that the estimates given on the “Summary of Bills” seen by Guyana Times was produced by the engineering core and was inadequate to execute quality corrective works on the 11 “worst case” homes that were listed. He said Allen’s prices were higher because the works done by the contractor were of a high standard, and as such, the memorandum issued by the CH&PA reflected the costs needed to execute the corrective works properly.
The “Summary of Bills” seen by this newspaper puts the cost for the works at $7,467,227. However, the internal memorandum issued by the Secretary to the CH&PA Board put the cost for the same 11 homes (verified by matching lot numbers) at a whopping $16,727,623, a difference of over $9.2 million which worked out to an increase of 124 per cent.
Green in April had declared that the Authority will be spending over $100 million on corrective works to core homes built by contractors under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic Administration.
“Bad roofs, leaking roofs, walls that are twisted, paint peeling, septic tanks porous, floors that were doing a special dance, among other things,” was how Green described some of the defects found.
His claims were quickly rebuffed by former Housing Minister Irfaan Ali, under whose stewardship the programme was initiated.
Ali had said that Green’s statement was “shocking” as he questioned the quoted $100 million Green planned to spend on fixing the ‘defective’ homes.
Ali said that CH&PA had previously stated that corrective works on the turnkey homes would have cost about $20 million.
“How is this now estimated at $100 million plus,” Ali had asked.
