(Trinidad Express) The Chinese contractor building the Central Block of the Port of Spain General Hospital has threatened to terminate the contract with the Government.
This was confirmed by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday, as he responded to a question during the PM’s Question Time from Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal in Parliament.
As a result of issues related to the Covid-19 pandemic, not the least of which is the global supply chain issue, and the local health responses which resulted in successive shutdowns of construction, the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT) and the contractor were currently dealing with a number of issues and differences which have arisen on this project, Rowley said.
He said discussions and negotiations were under way, and these should bring some sort of resolution to the challenges.
“There has been some loss of time on the project, and what is being discussed now is the impact of that on the costings and the progress as we go forward,” he said.
‘Some threats made’
Asked by Moonilal to confirm that Shanghai Construction has terminated its contract with the Government for the construction of this “pride project”, the Prime Minister said he was aware that “some threats were made”, but he was not sure whether the threats were carried out.
“The contractor was threatening to terminate, and UDeCOTT had no difficulty with that because UDeCOTT is protected by contractual arrangements. However, I do know that there are ongoing discussions between UDeCOTT and the contractor, and I am not sure whether the issuance of a letter of termination is closing those discussions that are on the way,” he said, referring to the “issuance of a termination letter”.
He was not sure whether a letter of termination had been issued, he said.
Asked to say the quantum of money paid to Shanghai Construction, the Prime Minister said if Moonilal was asking that the claim that the contractor was making was for payments, it is that kind of involvement that is generating the issue between UDeCOTT and the contractor.
Asked by Moonilal to state whether the threats to terminate involved ongoing issues of mismanagement by the on-site project management company, the Prime Minister said he had no such information.
Hopeful discussions
A source with knowledge of the project told the Express yesterday that Shanghai Construction served a termination notice in December to quit the one billion-dollar Central Block construction project. However, they said discussions are ongoing between the Government and the contractor to resolve the issue.
“They have served notice,” and meetings are taking place to resolve the matter, the source said. “We are hopeful that work would start back before the end of the first quarter.”
The source said the increases in prices led to claims for which the Government wanted verification. “To move a container from China to Trinidad has increased from US$2,400 to US$18,000 and furthermore the supply chain issues have caused a rise in prices,” the source said.
The source said the company is therefore making claims for increases in payment, and the Government wanted detailed and specific evidence for these expenditure increases.
According to the source, an additional problem was that because of Covid-19, the project could not meet the deadlines set, and the timeline had to be extended.
The company also had difficulties with “the Fidic engineer”, the source said, adding, “It is a complex situation, but we are trying to resolve it.”
The project, a public-private partnership with Shanghai Construction Group, was expected to take 24 to 30 months to complete.
The 13-storey block is expected to include a 540-bed tower, a coronary unit, a six-bed plastic surgery unit, and provide medical psychiatric, paediatric and ancillary services.
The sod was turned in November 2019 by the Prime Minister.
