By Jeff Trotman
After much heated discussion, the members of the Linden Interim Management Committee (IMC) voted last week for Digicel to proceed with preparatory work for the construction of a Rehabilitation Centre for Children with Special Needs.
The project was requested by way of a letter on Thursday, October 16, but had been turned down by four votes to two on the same day by the Special Buildings and Works Committee of the Linden Town Council over concerns that preparatory works were to be done without a plan being in place.
The request was refused one day after a much-publicised turning of the sod at the proposed site of the project. In raising the controversial issue at statutory meeting of the IMC last week Wednesday, IMC Chairman Orrin Gordon said he was surprised that the Special Buildings and Works Committee had decided to refuse permission to do preparatory work on the land. He also said that he was embarrassed that the matter was leaked to the press.
He insisted that the Digicel Marketing Manager Jacqueline James had specifically requested for preparatory work to be done at the site since the land needed building up and levelling as well as weeding, while the building plan was being approved by the municipality. But Chairman of the Buildings and Works Committee Eric Harry said it struck him as unusual that Digicel had already been given permission to utilise the land to build the rehabilitation centre, yet the company found it necessary to make an additional request to do preparatory work. According to him, the additional request would only be warranted if the preparatory work had direct bearing on construction.
Stating that the Special Building and Works Committee Meeting usually looks at construction plans that have been sent to the municipality for approval, Harry said that just before the meeting commenced on Thursday October 16, the IMC Chairman’s secretary gave him two letters for special consideration at the meeting: one was for a hut that the police wanted to build at One Mile, Wismar; the other was the Digicel request.
He said that he informed the members of the Special Buildings and Works Committee of the two letters and that they would review them when the Special Buildings Committee Meeting was over. He, however, pointed out that when the secretary gave him the letters, she said that Digicel wanted permission to go ahead with building the foundation of the rehabilitation centre even though the building plan was still to be received. At this point there was some confusion as some members of the committee thought that Digicel wanted to do foundation works without a plan. Digicel’s letter referred to preparatory work.
Harry, who is also Vice Chairman of the Linden IMC, also told his colleagues at the statutory meeting that when the matter came up for discussion, he did not read the letter to the other members of the Special Buildings and Works Committee but told them that Digicel wanted to go ahead with the foundation for the building. He said it was only after he saw the confusion amongst the committee members that he decided to read the letter to them. He, however, said that while the word foundation did not appear in the letter, the term “preparatory work” is vague and it could mean anything.
Catch word
“Duh word big,” Harry said. “It could mean foundation. It could mean cutting wood. So, duh word is a catch word and I ain’t buying it. Tell us exactly what you want. And since you give them permission to utilise the land, they ain’t got to ask for permission to do revetment. They have to ask for permission to build. I am just saying, I responsible for telling the committee what was said to me by the secretary.”
Gordon attempted to clear the air by reading the letter, which was headed, “Request for permission to commence preparatory work in lieu of submission of project plan for the rehabilitation centre.” He then explained that in the letter, James said that the architect was still finalising the plan and would not be ready for November 16, the date that construction had been projected to begin. Gordon added that he personally told James that it was a tall order for construction of the centre to be completed by the end of the year as was projected.
He said that she informed him that the Chairman of Digicel Denis O’Brien, who is based in Ireland, told her to go ahead with the project although she did not have a budget.
“She was given the green light by her Chairman, not even her CEO,” Gordon told the council. He also said the contractor of the project is aware of all the developments and cannot proceed with any construction work unless “he gets the drawings.”
Embarrassed
Stating that the matter went to the press, Gordon said he was embarrassed since it exposed a division in the IMC. He voiced further concern at the “continuous division going on all the time.” He added: “This thing ain’t looking nice for us.” He further opined that such lack of collectivity by the IMC members could discourage “people, who want to come and do things in our community, who would see us as a people who are self- destructing.”
Harry insisted that he was taken aback by the apparent urgency of the Digicel request, which was thrust on him at a meeting that was not even mandated to discuss such a request. “If you had called me and said you wanted me to address this matter, I would have gotten a better picture,” Harry told Gordon, who replied that he received the letter an hour or two before the Special Buildings and Works Committee Meeting.
“Comrade Chairman, why is it they had to send a letter to a meeting that was not constituted for that?” Harry asked. “As a matter of fact,” he added, “I was wrong. I did not suspend the standing order of the meeting to discuss the matter. We agreed that Digicel could go ahead. Why is it that they come after with a special request?” He then said communication within the IMC “is bad” and should such a situation continue “the council will always find itself in trouble.”
APNU councillor, Charles Sampson, who had voted against the request at the Special Buildings and Works Committee Meeting, said the statutory meeting should focus on what appeared in the press. Opining that it was sensational journalism, Sampson said: “What appeared in the press was that Digicel wanted to start the work and some councillors were opposed to that. That, basically, is what we should be talking about. I don’t care who is it–Digicel, BOSAI, Baishanlin–if they have to do any construction… it must pass through a process. Any time they don’t do that, they’re violating the process.”
According to Sampson, PPP/C member Orin Wilson was angry and sent the wrong message to the journalist “and the public get the impression that the PNC councillors don’t want this project to go ahead.” Sampson added: “We signed on to the project. So, we want the project to go on.”
PPP/C councillor Eon Halls, who assented to the request at the Special Buildings and Works Committee Meeting, said: “With all what Mr. Sampson saying, when Mr. Harry told us about foundation, we had already signed the document that you had sent around to us and once I put my signature on that document, any other request that was made pertaining to the same signature, I have to be consistent. The other councillors were saying that Digicel got to bring this plan.”
Pointing out that Orin Wilson, his fellow PPP/C Special Buildings and Works Committee member, also voted for Digicel to go ahead with what they would like to do although Harry referred to foundation works, Halls insisted that they did nothing wrong. “…If the Chairman is supportive of something and we are also supportive of it and the others are not supportive, we got a right to go and talk to the press,” he said. He added that there are a number of buildings that are being constructed without any plan lodged for approval with the council and in full view of IMC Councillors and no move has been made to stop them.
Gordon said the land has been idle for over 15 years and that he would challenge anyone who is against the project, which would meaningfully occupy the land. PPP/C member Orin Wilson called on the council as a collective body to vote for the preparatory work to proceed in spite of the criticism that was published in the newspaper by Wright. His suggestion was unanimously accepted by the council.
