Licks for Imbert at UNC cottage meeting

The “chaos” of the Tobago airport terminal project is detailed in the MacDonald Report and the Gleeds Report, whose contents raise big questions on the project which must be investigated, UNC MP David Lee says.

Speaking at the party’s Pavement Report in Freeport on Thursday night, Lee said the Tobago autonomy bills on Monday’s Parliament agenda aren’t new and are the same on which little consultation was done.

“We won’t allow this Government to use those two bills to sideline, to sweep these issues on the ANR terminal project aside,” Lee stressed.

Lee rejected Government’s “fragile defence” that modifications “occurred and there are some elements of variation that are not unusual with big projects.”

He said, “It’s brazen dishonesty that PNM’s appointees have been in the papers saying this project would finish earlier than expected, when the very entities hired by this Government to review the project have produced a damning picture.

“The chaos of this project is detailed in the 2023 MacDonald Report and then the November 2024 Gleeds Report …both firms hired by Government.”

He added, “The MacDonald report, as sanctioned by this Government, revealed total chaos by state-owned Nidco, the project manager…Let me break this down, the international firm hired by the Government uncovered that Nidco, the arm of the state responsible to manage the project, was not effectively fulfilling its role.”

Among that report’s findings, which he detailed, Lee said this included “their recommendation was: Although we propose that Nidco is retained as owner, we suggest that Nidco is removed ‘from the firing line’ and that total responsibility and control over project delivery is vested in another company.”

Lee said the Gleeds report “has some damning information.”

He accused Government of being prepared to put citizens’ safety at risk.

“The Gleeds Report tells the Government that while they appreciate the need to have a soft opening of the airport early in 2025, the preference would be to wait until the completion of the contractors’ commissioning, testing and training period. So this Government was willing to sacrifice safety, OSHA and all regulations just to have a campaign talking point.”

Lee raised questions on the project:

• Why did Nidco fail in its reporting and incentives? Why did Nidco fail in its project management?

• Given that China Railway, the major contractor, submitted a claims exposure report of 31 claims with a risk exposure of $204 million arising out of a combination of delays and other costs, was this due to Nidco’s failure in project management.

• Was this cost overrun due to the designs not meeting building codes and specifications? Did Nidco drop the ball while overseeing?

• Why did Nidco replace CEP Ltd from oversight and supervision engineering with Acuitus Caribbean Facilities Management Company Ltd, which cost a further 11.5 million?

• Was this the same CEP that identified the defects in the Trestrail Project?

• Why did Nidco extend the services of Zabir SL for TT 5.2 million?

*Why did Nidco extend the services of ACQ and Associates for land acquisition for a further $22.6 million?

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