Soca Warriors Online Discussion Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: trinindian on March 15, 2010, 06:37:56 AM
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80 million to correct flaws in the design of the National Academy
IT COULD TAKE as much as $80 million to correct flaws in the design of the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA), Port-of-Spain, the interim President of the Artists Coalition of Trinidad and Tobago (ACTT) Rubadiri Victor, estimated yesterday.
While Prime Minister Patrick Manning last week praised the NAPA as being “world class,” Victor yesterday begged to differ, saying the facility is plagued with technical problems and argued that it does not compare in any form with Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s.
Discussing a dossier on the NAPA prepared by the ACTT which has been circulating on the internet this month, Victor, a multi-media artist, said, “$80 million is a realistic estimate of the costs that would be involved to correct the defects.”
“It appears as though the firm which built and designed the facility (Shanghai Construction Group) may not have been experienced in building facilities of this kind,” he said.
The ACTT in their dossier, entitled, “The Tragedy and Hidden History of the NAPA”, the coalition of artists also estimate that maintenance of the building like the NAPA, which has an estimated budget of about $500 million, can approach as much as ten per cent of building cost. Architects, though, noted that maintenance costs are difficult to estimate due to the variables involved, such as the quality of original materials used.
Among the defects noted in the ACTT dossier are:
There is no loading area for the main stage;
The stage is “ill-matched” to the 1,500 seating capacity of the hall;
The orchestra pit is defective;
The light and sound boards are analogue and not digital (the industry standard for the last decade);
There are “hundreds of problems with lighting and sound fixtures and equipment” The stage floor is “ribbed and is not a sprung floor so is ill-suited for dancing and thus will damage dancers”.
Dance studios are flawed;
There are “no costume rooms, no set construction rooms and no warehousing rooms”;
One architect not involved in the ACTT report, who has been inside the NAPA yesterday confirmed the flaws identified in the report and added, “the floors are laminated and they have begun to chip already. Because of materials used, there are also creases on the stage, which will be a challenge for dancer.”
“A loading area’s dimensions are normally about 16 feet x 10 feet- NAPA has a normal door! This means that sets, costumes of a certain size, certain musical instruments (hint- one of them is our national one) cannot fit through NAPA’s doors to get backstage!” the report, compiled from a site visit and other sources, notes.
“The two rooms that have been trumpeted as the two smaller theatres are in fact just two rooms. Flat rooms with no seats. It would cost tens of millions of dollars to convert these rooms into theatres.”
“All the light and sound boards are analogue not digital. They are also mid-standard and not high-end,” the report continues. “Most of the fixtures are completely wrong: There are literally hundreds of problems with lighting and sound fixtures and equipment. Some may sound small to laypeople but they mean everything to the technicians entrusted to make sure shows go on.”
“For instance: the bars that the hundreds of light fixtures are on are square and not round. This means that lights can only be pointed in four directions (two of them up to the roof!) and not in gradated choice as on a round bar.”
Tellingly, signage for technical parts of the building is in Chinese, an indication that the design—heavily trumped as being inspired by the Chaconia flower—may not have been original to Trinidad and Tobago.
Additionally, “There are no dressing rooms within reach of the backstage, and no clothing racks, showers and a host of other amenities in the dressing rooms that do exist. This probably can be rectified but it will cost.”
“There are no monitors for backstage and for the stage manager. This probably too can be rectified — but it will cost.”
“The stage-floor is ribbed and is not a sprung floor so is ill-suited for dancing and thus will damage dancers. Theatrical floors are ‘rigged’ so that dancers can dance on then — they have a bounce to absorb and cushion dancers — otherwise it’s like you are dancing on concrete.”
“The dance studios are completely unsuited for dance. The dance-rooms have concrete and terrazzo floors; have dance bars too high; and have mirrors on both walls creating a circus infinite-mirror effect. This means there are effectively no dance studio spaces in NAPA. New properly constructed dance floors will have to be built, one mirrored wall will have to come down and all the dance bars taken down and re-hung.
To add to the litany of complaints, “there are no costume rooms, no set construction rooms and no warehousing rooms.”
Members of the ACTT include Fabien Alphonso, president of the Recording Industry Association of Trinidad and Tobago (RIATT) and Andre Reyes, president of the Artist Teachers Association.
“I don’t know how it could be that the firm that got the contract has a competency in building a performing arts centre,” Victor, who appeared before the Uff Commission of Inquiry into Udecott, the state corporation that built the facility, said. “This is a tragedy of an immense proportion.”
President of the Joint Consultative Council of the local construction industry Winston Riley yesterday noted that aside from functional problems, there have been concerns about the construction materials used for the project.
“There are serious concerns about it as an academy,” he noted, “but we have been concerned about the use of mild steel in the building which we believe would put the building under risk.”
The NAPA was reportedly built pursuant to a Government to Government agreement between Trinidad and Tobago and China, at an estimated budget of about $500 million. There was no competitive tender for the project which was handed to the Shanghai Construction Group, the same company that built the Prime Minister’s Residence and Diplomatic Centre. Efforts to contact SCG were unsuccessful.
When Manning, who had come under fire for his constant defence of Udecott in the face of compelling evidence of corruption at the state enterprise, opened the building last November, he called it, “a masterpiece owned by the people of Trinidad and Tobago.”
At a press briefing last week in London for Commonwealth observances, Manning, the chairman of the Commonwealth, noted that the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) took place at NAPA. “All in all my dear friends, I think that we were pleased with the outcome. Of course, we were able to expose to the international community a new facility in Port-of-Spain: a National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) which as everybody saw, we believe is acknowledged to be a world class facility in a small developing country, seeking and striving to take its place among the great countries of the world,” Manning said. Udecott has blocked attempts to have an open media tour of the project.
“Taxpayers are going to have to live with this,” Victor said yesterday.
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,117279.html
I really hope this article is more sensationalism, but I highly doubt it .
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Babol is KING
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lol this rel funny. :-\ stueps
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Most of this stuff is fixable. Yes it will cost, yes it should have been done correctly in the first place. No, I'm not giving the Gov't a free pass. They eff it up.
What I would like to know is if the ACTT had any input into the design and construction. Did they ask? Or did they wait on the sidelines and grumble. Were they proactive and try to get into the picture to make sure things would be up to standard?
What I'm saying is, regardless of how good or bad things go with this type of thing, since you already know you in sweet t&T and this outcome is more than likely, maybe you should try to get in early and head off the craziness. If they blank you, you have legitimate beef and a ready-made platform to stand on with your grievances.
If you just wait around while someone else does something on your behalf, then you're partly compliant in producing the final result.
What T&T needs sometimes is true advocacy. Get your hands dirty, piss people off, make some noise, work to get a proper result. The complaints now are too late.
Likewise, instead of talk about boycotting the savannah and prize money disputes, the Carnival people and ACTT and TUCO should be involved in the design of the National Carnival Centre. NOW.
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What I would like to know is if the ACTT had any input into the design and construction. Did they ask? Or did they wait on the sidelines and grumble. Were they proactive and try to get into the picture to make sure things would be up to standard?
What I'm saying is, regardless of how good or bad things go with this type of thing, since you already know you in sweet t&T and this outcome is more than likely, maybe you should try to get in early and head off the craziness. If they blank you, you have legitimate beef and a ready-made platform to stand on with your grievances.
NAPA: Boss or boo?
By Lisa-allen Agostini (T&T Guardian)
Before I start this thing, let me make something very clear: I is a theatre person. Theatre, the thing where real live people standing up on some kind of stage and acting in front of a real live audience. I start writing as a child and one of the first things I ever write was a skit. I does write plays, I act with the Trinidad Theatre Workshop (TTW) and I study directing and stage management at UWI in my undergrad days. All that is to tell you I’s not no kicksy theatre person. I like it bad and I like it long time. So when I hear we was getting a big new national theatre building, I had mixed feelings. Yes, mixed feelings, because as far as I hear and see in this country, theatre people don’t need a big hall like that. What I personally hear them ask for was purpose-built theatres (not multi-use halls or auditoriums, but theatres) in North, South, Tobago and Central, and to fix the theatres we done have. Just as Queen’s Hall get a whole renovation the other day, Little Carib Theatre and Naparima Bowl could do with a overhaul, too. (Carib getting one all now… I wish they coulda get a few million from the Napa budget to finish the thing, yes.)
I is not no construction expert. I never lay a brick myself, so you could take this how you want: I sure sure sure the budget for them buildings the theatre fraternity did ask for wasn’t going and cost half a billion dollars. And is half a billion dollars, give or take a couple million, that Government spend on the Napa. I never went inside, but I hear people like caisonians, rapso people and the opera singer Anne Fridal real like it. Give Jack he jacket, it very shiny and impressive from the outside, and I know plenty people find it glamorous and exciting and pretty. And then it have the other side of the penny. In a press conference in Marlborough House in London, as part of the Commonwealth Day commemoration on March 8, the PM stand up and say the Napa building is boss. Newsday quote him as saying that, at the CHOGM last year when Napa open, “…we were able to expose to the international community a new facility in Port-of-Spain: a National Academy for the Performing Arts which, as everybody saw, we believe is acknowledged to be a world class facility in a small developing country, seeking and striving to take its place among the great countries of the world.”
The goodly PM is many things but I never hear he have no theatre credentials yet. Every theatre person I talk to, including some who was watching the specs for the building as it was going up, say Napa is boo. Rubadiri Victor, a fella I act with at TTW and who does write and direct for stage, write a 39-page report on behalf of the Artists Coalition of T&T (ACTT). I read it Monday, the same day as the PM was giving he speech. The report name “The Tragedy & the Hidden History of Napa.” In short, he say the Napa the PM so talking up is a complete waste. I go give you the Cliff Notes version:
n “Having seen Napa from the inside now, and having visited dozens of rooms, I now conclude that it will cost a further $80 million to convert a handful of rooms to academy and performing arts specifications. This would still leave dozens of rooms untouched and unusable. Because of this I am now prepared to concede that it may be more feasible to give the entire Napa facility over to being a hotel and that another site be sought to construct a proper school for the arts and a national performing arts centre.
Napa is completely unsuited for either function and will cost too much to convert it into such.” n “Artists… politely requested stakeholder consultation (on Napa’s design). A letter was drafted with the signatures of more than ten representative group leaders, an ex-deputy permanent secretary of culture, Sat Balkaransingh, ex-Directors of Culture Mungal Patasar, Chalkdust, and Eugene Joseph, and the three senior artists of the country—Leroy Clarke, Peter Minshall, and Earl Lovelace. It was a historic document. It was ignored.”
1. It have no loading bay for the stage.
2. The stage too big.
3. The orchestra pit too deep.
4. The black box theatres is just empty rooms with no dressing rooms, rigging for lights, or even seats.
5. The light and sound mixing boards is analog, whereas state-of-the-art mixers is mostly digital. The Napa boards is mid- level, not top of the line.
6. It have “hundreds of problems with lighting and sound fixtures and equipment.”
7.“Everything is written in Chinese. …The technical boards control every single outlet and plug in the whole building from central switching. And no one can say what switch is for what on hundreds of switches. So you then have to manually go through each one to find the corresponding switch. And then label it with masking tape.”
Theatre don’t need a stage or a building to happen. It could happen in the road, under a tree, in a church or a classroom or a latrine if you could figure out how to get the audience inside with you. We theatre people accustom to hard times and making do. Napa might be a national disgrace, but it wouldn’t kill we. But to boast that the silver elephant at the top of Frederick Street is a national treasure? That is insult on top of injury. The theatre community—and all the rest of the arts community of T&T—deserve a proper, functional, well-designed facility they could use, not just a useless but shiny trinket to gallery with.
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Well then Flame on! :flamethrower:
I was thinking of something more than a polite letter though. Polite letters do not equal strong advocacy. As I said, get your hands dirty. Leadership isn't about becoming the head of some organization.
p.s.
:flamethrower:
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Well apparently ALL the theater people are also construction experts, as the can summarily give an estimate on how much it will cost to fix the so-called errors.
T&T is rel kicks yes...fyah bun!
STEUPS!
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What I would like to know is if the ACTT had any input into the design and construction. Did they ask? Or did they wait on the sidelines and grumble. Were they proactive and try to get into the picture to make sure things would be up to standard?
I could tell you this... the article a few months ago for new stadia for swimming, cycling and tennis has led to bids for tenders and not one coach in the swimming fraternity has seen the design for the aquatic centre as yet. I personally have asked for it through our administrative reps, but am yet to see it. Same way they went and build a 50m pool down at UTT marine campus in Chag and it only have 4 lanes but they also put a massive set of concrete bleachers like they going to host something in there.
STEUPS!
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Law needs to change to require public review and comment meetings. Can't believe the gov't is allowed to build all this w/o a public review process.
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so goes it in "sweet" T&T... build it and
they will come so we can boast we have. who cares about the final product.
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What I would like to know is if the ACTT had any input into the design and construction. Did they ask? Or did they wait on the sidelines and grumble. Were they proactive and try to get into the picture to make sure things would be up to standard?
I could tell you this... the article a few months ago for new stadia for swimming, cycling and tennis has led to bids for tenders and not one coach in the swimming fraternity has seen the design for the aquatic centre as yet. I personally have asked for it through our administrative reps, but am yet to see it. Same way they went and build a 50m pool down at UTT marine campus in Chag and it only have 4 lanes but they also put a massive set of concrete bleachers like they going to host something in there.
STEUPS!
I guess what I saying is that these situations are tailor made for some political theatre. "Not one coach has seen the designs" suggests a passive approach. You know they about to eff it up. Jump in and stir up some mud!
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My cousin is a dancer, teaches dance and is currently finishing her degree in some stage/dance thing of the other in UWI. From jumpstreet she has said she wants nothing to do with NAPA. The stage apparently is built with solid concrete and from what she has explained to me, theater stages need to be build from wood, so that it has some give from the constant jumping up and down which prevents the dancers from damaging their feet. Further to that, the stage has grooves in it so it cannot have a dance show whatsoever because they will fall.
Aside from that though, what NAPA doing that Queens Hall cannot do?
9 times out of 10 events that are thrown at Queen's Hall do not sell out, save and except music festival and 3 canal's carnival show. So was it needed that badly?
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What I would like to know is if the ACTT had any input into the design and construction. Did they ask? Or did they wait on the sidelines and grumble. Were they proactive and try to get into the picture to make sure things would be up to standard?
I could tell you this... the article a few months ago for new stadia for swimming, cycling and tennis has led to bids for tenders and not one coach in the swimming fraternity has seen the design for the aquatic centre as yet. I personally have asked for it through our administrative reps, but am yet to see it. Same way they went and build a 50m pool down at UTT marine campus in Chag and it only have 4 lanes but they also put a massive set of concrete bleachers like they going to host something in there.
STEUPS!
I guess what I saying is that these situations are tailor made for some political theatre. "Not one coach has seen the designs" suggests a passive approach. You know they about to eff it up. Jump in and stir up some mud!
You feel is now come people it have in swimming? Why you feel I get home after 11o'clock from a 6:30 meeting with Swim Committee? Arguing takes energy, and my job is development. We all try to 'stir up the mud' as you say, but in the end dem fellas do what they want. It's been 30 years since the first design for the aqautic centre was drawn. It supposed to be right where the current training field for HCS is. Nearly 3 years ago they announced Mt. Hope was around the corner. The earth circle the sun twice, how long this corner is?
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Stueps....alll dem actors/artists/media people are UNC! and dey pushing their political agendas - so what if the door/and seating areas too small? it have ways to work around that.
Great is the d pnm and it shall prevail damn it!
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Too much emigration...Trinidad has been left with a shortage of intelligence. This simply could not happen in the developed world. We soundin more and more like Nigeria.
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Stueps....alll dem actors/artists/media people are UNC! and dey pushing their political agendas - so what if the door/and seating areas too small? it have ways to work around that.
Great is the d pnm and it shall prevail damn it!
:rotfl: :rotfl: I could care less who is UNC and how great some people think PNM is, yes...I want to be sure my tax paying money is being spent wisely on any frigin project..
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Too much emigration...Trinidad has been left with a shortage of intelligence. This simply could not happen in the developed world. We soundin more and more like Nigeria.
Typical condescending crap.
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Too much emigration...Trinidad has been left with a shortage of intelligence. This simply could not happen in the developed world. We soundin more and more like Nigeria.
Typical condescending crap.
I wish there was a better reason. That sh!t is embarrasing.
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Too much emigration...Trinidad has been left with a shortage of intelligence. This simply could not happen in the developed world. We soundin more and more like Nigeria.
More shit talk..so what about the trillions spent on wars? Who does do dat? Dey have all the so-called intelligence too ent?
US does waste 60 billion a year on health care issues alone.
The US DOD routinely hands out no-bid and cost-plus contracts, under which contractors get reimbursed for their costs plus a certain percentage of the contract figure. Such deals don't help hold down spending in the annual military budget of about $500 billion.
US farm subsidy program, part of which pays farmers not to grow crops, has become a giant welfare program for the rich, one that cost taxpayers nearly $20 billion last year.
Again MUCH worse happening in the DEVELOPED NATIONS..UK does real waste too....
Dat said, it doh absolve the T&T Government from wastage and gross mismanagement.
Jes doh come here making my little T&T sound like it all alone and we is some 3rd world dunces...dayt is a master quantity ah shit talk!
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What I would like to know is if the ACTT had any input into the design and construction. Did they ask? Or did they wait on the sidelines and grumble. Were they proactive and try to get into the picture to make sure things would be up to standard?
I could tell you this... the article a few months ago for new stadia for swimming, cycling and tennis has led to bids for tenders and not one coach in the swimming fraternity has seen the design for the aquatic centre as yet. I personally have asked for it through our administrative reps, but am yet to see it. Same way they went and build a 50m pool down at UTT marine campus in Chag and it only have 4 lanes but they also put a massive set of concrete bleachers like they going to host something in there.
STEUPS!
I guess what I saying is that these situations are tailor made for some political theatre. "Not one coach has seen the designs" suggests a passive approach. You know they about to eff it up. Jump in and stir up some mud!
You feel is now come people it have in swimming? Why you feel I get home after 11o'clock from a 6:30 meeting with Swim Committee? Arguing takes energy, and my job is development. We all try to 'stir up the mud' as you say, but in the end dem fellas do what they want. It's been 30 years since the first design for the aqautic centre was drawn. It supposed to be right where the current training field for HCS is. Nearly 3 years ago they announced Mt. Hope was around the corner. The earth circle the sun twice, how long this corner is?
OK, I will try again.
Sometimes (most?) you have to act like a jackass to get the requisite attention. That takes somebody who doh mind acting like a jackass as long as the goal is achieved. What you guys need is a designated jackass. Spalk is a good candidate for that, and has filled the role. Still, I talking about planning and construction phases. If you can't get the first shovel in the ground, then it's a different story. When they start digging a hole in the ground, that is when you show up with the press and act the fool if you have no input. That is the opportunity I'm talking about. Until then it's talk about some abstract thing that might get built.
I implied earlier that the people who run these organizations aren't competent. I apologise. What I meant to convey is that they need to go in a different direction or this story will repeat. Yes, being an official jackass is a tough job, but being polite isn't getting you anything right now except frustrated.
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What I would like to know is if the ACTT had any input into the design and construction. Did they ask? Or did they wait on the sidelines and grumble. Were they proactive and try to get into the picture to make sure things would be up to standard?
I could tell you this... the article a few months ago for new stadia for swimming, cycling and tennis has led to bids for tenders and not one coach in the swimming fraternity has seen the design for the aquatic centre as yet. I personally have asked for it through our administrative reps, but am yet to see it. Same way they went and build a 50m pool down at UTT marine campus in Chag and it only have 4 lanes but they also put a massive set of concrete bleachers like they going to host something in there.
STEUPS!
I guess what I saying is that these situations are tailor made for some political theatre. "Not one coach has seen the designs" suggests a passive approach. You know they about to eff it up. Jump in and stir up some mud!
You feel is now come people it have in swimming? Why you feel I get home after 11o'clock from a 6:30 meeting with Swim Committee? Arguing takes energy, and my job is development. We all try to 'stir up the mud' as you say, but in the end dem fellas do what they want. It's been 30 years since the first design for the aqautic centre was drawn. It supposed to be right where the current training field for HCS is. Nearly 3 years ago they announced Mt. Hope was around the corner. The earth circle the sun twice, how long this corner is?
OK, I will try again.
Sometimes (most?) you have to act like a jackass to get the requisite attention. That takes somebody who doh mind acting like a jackass as long as the goal is achieved. What you guys need is a designated jackass. Spalk is a good candidate for that, and has filled the role. Still, I talking about planning and construction phases. If you can't get the first shovel in the ground, then it's a different story. When they start digging a hole in the ground, that is when you show up with the press and act the fool if you have no input. That is the opportunity I'm talking about. Until then it's talk about some abstract thing that might get built.
I implied earlier that the people who run these organizations aren't competent. I apologise. What I meant to convey is that they need to go in a different direction or this story will repeat. Yes, being an official jackass is a tough job, but being polite isn't getting you anything right now except frustrated.
I glad you mentioned Spalk, because they offered to build him his own pool at the entrance to Diego Martin, and he act like a Jackass and embarass them and he was in the Ministry, Junior Minister of Sport to be accurate. You should see the place now... three big apartment buildings. That is what acting a fool gets you. You feel is joke with dem fellas oui! Bredda I hear everything you saying and having spent my high school and college years away from here I believe in what you saying. However, things don't always work so even in developed nations, much less for here where everyone who falls out of line must be made an example of.
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Too much emigration...Trinidad has been left with a shortage of intelligence. This simply could not happen in the developed world. We soundin more and more like Nigeria.
More shit talk..so what about the trillions spent on wars? Who does do dat? Dey have all the so-called intelligence too ent?
US does waste 60 billion a year on health care issues alone.
The US DOD routinely hands out no-bid and cost-plus contracts, under which contractors get reimbursed for their costs plus a certain percentage of the contract figure. Such deals don't help hold down spending in the annual military budget of about $500 billion.
US farm subsidy program, part of which pays farmers not to grow crops, has become a giant welfare program for the rich, one that cost taxpayers nearly $20 billion last year.
Again MUCH worse happening in the DEVELOPED NATIONS..UK does real waste too....
Dat said, it doh absolve the T&T Government from wastage and gross mismanagement.
Jes doh come here making my little T&T sound like it all alone and we is some 3rd world dunces...dayt is a master quantity ah shit talk!
I hear yuh, but to not put the project out to tender, and then accept such a ridiculous design and then boast about it like some African dictator....
I am not even alleging corruption.....just stupidity :-\
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Relax nah,
The NAPA facility is to go and pose up on the steps and take pichar.
:rotfl:
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Relax nah,
The NAPA facility is to go and pose up on the steps and take pichar.
:rotfl:
(http://www.hotghettomess.com/wp-content/uploads/5-6-2009-9-14-28-am.jpg)
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What I would like to know is if the ACTT had any input into the design and construction. Did they ask? Or did they wait on the sidelines and grumble. Were they proactive and try to get into the picture to make sure things would be up to standard?
the answer is yes- they did write and ask to be in the meetings- yes they did submit their comments before the building was started
however the definition of 'consultation' with our ministers etc. means 'we will tell you what we are doing and you could comment- but we are not obliged to take any of your comments into consideration. we are just letting you know'
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Thanks for the good info.
Wasting money for hubris. White elephants for everyone!
The only thing left to do is see if you can't get a piece of an $80m upgrade contract.
I still find we should make more noise before the concrete pour though.
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if the chinese are doing it no locals getting anything...
when they were building the 'palace' they imported everything down to nails and hammers in containers ...
their money- their economy benefitted...
:-X
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What I would like to know is if the ACTT had any input into the design and construction. Did they ask? Or did they wait on the sidelines and grumble. Were they proactive and try to get into the picture to make sure things would be up to standard?
I could tell you this... the article a few months ago for new stadia for swimming, cycling and tennis has led to bids for tenders and not one coach in the swimming fraternity has seen the design for the aquatic centre as yet. I personally have asked for it through our administrative reps, but am yet to see it. Same way they went and build a 50m pool down at UTT marine campus in Chag and it only have 4 lanes but they also put a massive set of concrete bleachers like they going to host something in there.
STEUPS!
4 Lanes ??? is 4 Lanes ya write there man ???
lawd :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
day 4 Cup
Stueps....alll dem actors/artists/media people are UNC! and dey pushing their political agendas - so what if the door/and seating areas too small? it have ways to work around that.
Great is the d pnm and it shall prevail damn it!
:rotfl:
oh shit man :devil:
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Stueps....alll dem actors/artists/media people are UNC! and dey pushing their political agendas - so what if the door/and seating areas too small? it have ways to work around that.
Great is the d pnm and it shall prevail damn it!
This man say "Great is the PNM" like him reading some type ah Shakespare novel yes..allyuh go brave oui lol
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Stueps....alll dem actors/artists/media people are UNC! and dey pushing their political agendas - so what if the door/and seating areas too small? it have ways to work around that.
Great is the d pnm and it shall prevail damn it!
This man say "Great is the PNM" like him reading some type ah Shakespare novel yes..allyuh go brave oui lol
Breds are you in the US Navy? I am only asking cuz yuh sound like yuh should be in the Salvation army...like yuh doh understand sarcasm?
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I asked for consultation on a lil $.5M project and was told that would only slow things down. Just go ahead and do it. Is just the way they does drop it.
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Kinda reminds me of the Sage Gatehead Performing Art Center...
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National academy of Performing Arts, North
As I read Rubadiri Victor's important report on the "NAPA tragedy" in the press and its "$80 million is a realistic estimate of the costs that would be involved to correct the defects," I was reminded of another architectural landmark on a small island which endured similar criticism, The Auditorio de Tenerife located in in the Canarian capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditorio_de_Tenerife or http://www.auditoriodetenerife.com/index_edificio.php] This project was criticized for various structural problems and budget increases.
Auditorio de Tenerife
This pales in contrast to the Mother of all performing arts centre projects with problems; the Sydney Opera House. That controversial project was riddled with political intrigue. Whereas NAPA was about completion at all cost in time for CHOGM, the Sydney Opera House "was all about control; about the triumph of homegrown mediocrity over foreign genius." [Farrelly, Elizabeth, 'High noon at Bennelong Point' in Canberra Times, 01 Dec, 2008] Someone smarter than me once said, "we In Trinidad and Tobago deify mediocrity." These projects may be closer than we think!
This project, NAPA, to me, is incomplete, and the $80 million cited by Rubadiri in the actual report "to convert a handful of rooms to Academy and Performing Arts specifications," is part of the completion cost. We all know that the initial function was as a showcase piece for the Queen and other Commonwealth heads. The functional aspects as an academy and performing arts centre were secondary. The hotel was thrown in as a lagniappe. Ask Keith Rowley!
This project and others also point to a habit of budget estimates that seem out of sync with reality. Piarco Airport Terminal was budgeted for one figure and came in at double that cost, approximately $1.6B, about US$250M At that time I remember the expansion of Baltimore-Washington Airport of similar size and scope came in on budget at US$260M. Where did we get a figure of half that to build a new terminal in Trinidad? The idea of "...a politically lowballed construction budget, which eventually resulted in a cost overrun..." was floated in an interesting document called "Design by Deception: The Politics of Megaproject Approval" by Professor Bent Flyvbjerg in Harvard Design Magazine, Spring/Summer 2005, [http://flyvbjerg.plan.aau.dk/HARVARDDESIGN63PRINT.pdf]
There is something wrong in our construction industry, as alluded to by participants in the Uff Commission of Inquiry, and it overlaps with this notion of a developed state with its attendant requirements of modern and inclusive cultural spaces, consultative democracy and accountability. NAPA is now a symbol of flawed delivery of grand ideas for the benefit of all. Much like water for all by 2000! It is also a jumping off point for a revamping of the idea of a Ministry of Culture that still is appended to other ministries like an sickly stepchild. There was much discussion, now the work has to begin. Rubadiri's report is part of the "actioning" of the players to overcome the indifference of consecutive governments to what is our greatest gift to the world, our culture. Good job Rubadiri.
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Culture Minister Mc Donald and two technical people from UDeCOTT had a press conference this morning. They say the entire article was lies, damn lies and more lies. The only thing they was true was that the sound equipment was indeed analog and not digital. Mc. Donald came close to cussing Andre Baghoo.
Dais all ah have time to type right now and to be honest ah just plain tired ah de circus....
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Culture Minister Mc Donald and two technical people from UDeCOTT had a press conference this morning. They say the entire article was lies, damn lies and more lies. The only thing they was true was that the sound equipment was indeed analog and not digital. Mc. Donald came close to cussing Andre Baghoo.
Dais all ah have time to type right now and to be honest ah just plain tired ah de circus....
Who ever built the mixing console probably wanted it that way... cause a mixture of analog and digital is can be used for large systems like this. With analog mixing boards you can get more warmth and depth for the brass and bass sounds. Nothing wrong with an analog mixing board... just takes a little more articulation. Ask Rudabiri if he prefers to use a digital amp for he guitar when he plays he rap-so or does he use a tube amp...? May be the head live sound engineer wanted the system to be like that....? my 2 cents...!
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Culture Minister Mc Donald and two technical people from UDeCOTT had a press conference this morning. They say the entire article was lies, damn lies and more lies. The only thing they was true was that the sound equipment was indeed analog and not digital. Mc. Donald came close to cussing Andre Baghoo.
Dais all ah have time to type right now and to be honest ah just plain tired ah de circus....
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
ah sorry to laugh, but lawd ah get ah visual of dat scene and buss hard in meh office.
dey fridge about to cuss
Airman where dey utube showing that?
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Culture Minister Mc Donald and two technical people from UDeCOTT had a press conference this morning. They say the entire article was lies, damn lies and more lies. The only thing they was true was that the sound equipment was indeed analog and not digital. Mc. Donald came close to cussing Andre Baghoo.
Dais all ah have time to type right now and to be honest ah just plain tired ah de circus....
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
ah sorry to laugh, but lawd ah get ah visual of dat scene and buss hard in meh office.
dey fridge about to cuss
Airman where dey utube showing that?
Coming soon my friend :devil:
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Culture Minister Mc Donald and two technical people from UDeCOTT had a press conference this morning. They say the entire article was lies, damn lies and more lies. The only thing they was true was that the sound equipment was indeed analog and not digital. Mc. Donald came close to cussing Andre Baghoo.
Dais all ah have time to type right now and to be honest ah just plain tired ah de circus....
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
ah sorry to laugh, but lawd ah get ah visual of dat scene and buss hard in meh office.
dey fridge about to cuss
Airman where dey utube showing that?
I wasn't watching but rather taking it een on radio. It didn't matter cuz I could tell by the tone in her voice and the way she was picking on Baghoo, I say any minute she woulda cuss him and walk out......
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Ah just plain tired ah de circus....
COSIGNNNNNNN
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I guess the analog vs digital story would be interesting if not for the fact that the labels are all in ,,,,,,,
guess what?? yup Chinese!!!
:applause:
who says the government doesn't have a sense of humour
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I guess the analog vs digital story would be interesting if not for the fact that the labels are all in ,,,,,,,
guess what?? yup Chinese!!!
:applause:
who says the government doesn't have a sense of humour
Actually they said that part about things being labelled in Chinese is a lie too.....
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Oh shit...
The Rev Juliana Pena should go and check the church up in Guanapo forthwith.
It might cost her 80 Million to fix the pews and sanctuary.
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Oh shit...
The Rev Juliana Pena should go and check the church up in Guanapo forthwith.
It might cost her 80 Million to fix the pews and sanctuary.
and the door ways might be a tad short
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Oh shit...
The Rev Juliana Pena should go and check the church up in Guanapo forthwith.
It might cost her 80 Million to fix the pews and sanctuary.
and the door ways might be a tad short
alyuh not right u know :rotfl: :rotfl: ;D............u know we have chinee members on here right?
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Lewwe see if the Church get a Digital Sound System setup.
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Lewwe see if the Church get a Digital Sound System setup.
:rotfl: :rotfl:
Touches....yuh real idle boy....
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allyuh in allyuh glee. So is it true? That it is in chinese,a nd that it is analog,a nd the dance floor is concrete, and how a man who involved in the arts come up with ah 80 million figure? He involved in construction industry too?
Jes asking.
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Culture Minister denies claims that NAPA needs $8m in refurbishment
Tuesday 16th March, 2010
Minister of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, Marlene Mc Donald, denies claims by the Artists Coalition of Trinidad and Tobago that NAPA will need an additional $80 million in repairs. She says the estimates are unfounded because the building is currently undergoing a review of all systems and it may be months before any definitive analysis is completed..Read the rest http://ctntworld.com/LocalArticles.aspx?id=19084
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allyuh in allyuh glee.
Yep.
Yuh see I eh have no affiliation with any party so when they ALL do shit I enjoying mih self. Ah tell PNMites about 2 - 3 weeks ago to pull Manning aside and talk to him but like they eh taking me on. Well, let then comedy/circus continue....
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allyuh in allyuh glee.
Yep.
Yuh see I eh have no affiliation with any party so when they ALL do shit I enjoying mih self. Ah tell PNMites about 2 - 3 weeks ago to pull Manning aside and talk to him but like they eh taking me on. Well, let then comedy/circus continue....
But he was pulled aside and told what the REAL feeling and word was on the ground. He was nd it eh have nutten to do with you or your advise.
lol
But ah notice the questions I posed are left unanswered ent?
Public mischief indeed...they stirring up trouble where there is none.
Stick to the facts, lke de opposition trying to deflect from Calder Hart or what? Like dey have ADD or ADHD?
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Culture Minister Mc Donald and two technical people from UDeCOTT had a press conference this morning. They say the entire article was lies, damn lies and more lies. The only thing they was true was that the sound equipment was indeed analog and not digital. Mc. Donald came close to cussing Andre Baghoo.
Dais all ah have time to type right now and to be honest ah just plain tired ah de circus....
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
ah sorry to laugh, but lawd ah get ah visual of dat scene and buss hard in meh office.
dey fridge about to cuss
Airman where dey utube showing that?
Culture Minister goes on the defensive over
http://www.youtube.com/v/f-cLYg2bdVY
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I guess the analog vs digital story would be interesting if not for the fact that the labels are all in ,,,,,,,
guess what?? yup Chinese!!!
:applause:
who says the government doesn't have a sense of humour
Actually they said that part about things being labelled in Chinese is a lie too.....
Nah man......it really labelled "We Ting" :devil:
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allyuh in allyuh glee.
Yep.
Yuh see I eh have no affiliation with any party so when they ALL do shit I enjoying mih self. Ah tell PNMites about 2 - 3 weeks ago to pull Manning aside and talk to him but like they eh taking me on. Well, let then comedy/circus continue....
But he was pulled aside and told what the REAL feeling and word was on the ground. He was nd it eh have nutten to do with you or your advise.
lol
But ah notice the questions I posed are left unanswered ent?
Public mischief indeed...they stirring up trouble where there is none.
Stick to the facts, lke de opposition trying to deflect from Calder Hart or what? Like dey have ADD or ADHD?
Before the $2m flag bachanal I would have thought so, but that issue thought me that where there is smoke there is fire....the truth goh come out one way or another....
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Anybody heard that the National museum is being moved out so that the admin offices of the nappa can be housed in the victoria building? ???
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Chinese Embassy defends NAPA
Friday 19th March, 2010
The Embassy of the People's Republic of China has defended the National Academy for the Performing Arts in Port of Spain.
C News understands that the Embassy is standing by the construction of the facility, which it has described as a co-operative project between China and Trinidad and Tobago.
NAPA was completed in November 2009, and officials at the Chinese Embassy have said it meets all necessary standards and requirements. Read the rest http://ctntworld.com/LocalArticles.aspx?id=19172
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Anybody heard that the National museum is being moved out so that the admin offices of the nappa can be housed in the victoria building? ???
Yep. Pat Bishop spoke up about it some weeks ago....could be that's why she was "gagged".....
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Dookeran and team barred from NAPA
Members of the Congress of the People (COP) were denied access to the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) in Port-of-Spain yesterday. Some members of the COP, led by political leader Winston Dookeran, assembled outside NAPA around 11 am to tour the facility. But as the group tried to enter the facility they were quickly confronted by a group of security officers, led by the head of University of T&T (UTT) security Ben Ramnarine. COP activist Anil Roberts said the party sent a letter asking to tour the facility, but did not receive a response.
Ramnarine informed them that their request was not approved.
He said a letter was faxed to the COP office, stating that they would receive an answer by March 23. Dookeran said: “We came to tour the facility to see whether citizens were getting value for money.” He added that this came in light of the recent concerns expressed by the Artists Coalition of T&T (ACTT) that NAPA was not functional for local artists and citizens were not getting value for money. “We want to see it ourselves, right now we are giving them the benefit of the doubt until we get the opportunity to tour the facility...We want to find out if it is a white elephant,” Dookeran said.
He added that they wanted to determine whether it was fact or fiction concerning the functionality of the place and if it would be a burden on the Treasury. He said the people had a right to information and was calling on the Culture Minister to address the concerns raised. Roberts said the party had written to the Community, Culture and Genders Affairs Ministry, Queen’s Hall board and UTT, requesting permission to tour the facility. He said they had written to the three organisations as they were uncertain as to which one had the authority.
Based on the report by ACTT, Roberts highlighted some of the flaws at NAPA, saying that the doors were smaller than the required specifications for artistes who had equipment, no outside stage for outside cultural events, and a smaller stage was also required. He said the outdated analog systems installed was useless and the Government should have considered modern technology such as a digitalised system.
He added JW and Blaze were also denied permission to film their Road March hit Palance in front the facility. However, soca artist Neil Iwer George, calypsonian D Original De Fosto (Winston Scarborogh) and chutney singer Ravi B came under fire by Roberts for going against the ACTT and praising the Government for the “wonderful” facility. Roberts challenged the three artistes to host their own show without any kind of subsidisation and prove to the public that it can be economically viable.
http://guardian.co.tt/news/general/2010/03/20/dookeran-and-team-barred-napa
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No Chutney for NAPA
By ANDRE BAGOO Saturday, March 20 2010
click on pic to zoom in
Culture Minister Marlene McDonald ...
« prev photo next photo »
CULTURE Minister Marlene Mc Donald blanked a proposal for the hosting of the World Chutney Soca Monarch at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) in Port-of- Spain because the facility was – in her view – not built for “those kinds of things”, according to president of the National Chutney Foundation, Vijay Ramlal.
“We wrote to the ministry when the facilities were just opened and requested the use of the facility to have the World Chutney Soca Monarch,” Ramlal said. “We had 25 countries sending representatives and we indicated that we wanted to do the event slightly differently whereby we would have greater seating capacity and better acoustics and have it in a world class facility suited to the participation.
“However, we were informed that the facility was not for that kind of thing,” Ramlal said. “The minister spoke to me and indicated that the facility was not built for ‘those kinds of things’, it was built for more classical events,” Ramlal said.
“I remember her saying that when the other facility (the National Carnival Centre) is built that is where those kinds of things will take place,” he added. Ramlal’s comments flies in the face of a series of electronic advertisements taken out by the Culture Ministry over the facilities of the NAPA, which have been criticised by the Artists Coalition of Trinidad and Tobago (ACTT). One such advertisement features popular chutney artiste Ravi “Ravi B” Bissembhar, the Chutney Soca Monarch. In that ad, Bissembhar described NAPA as a venue where a lot of Indian cultural events could take place. In the ad, played on television, there were images of Indian dancers at the front of NAPA while Bissembhar’s voice could be heard extolling the facility.
Yesterday, Congress of the People (COP) political leader Winston Dookeran questioned whether the country has gotten value for money on NAPA. At a press conference outside NAPA, opposite the Queen’s Park Savannah, Dookeran called on the State to allow open tours of the facility immediately.
“The public has raised a lot of issues not the least of which is whether there has been value for money in this project,” Dookeran said after the press conference. “We have a right to know all the answers to questions that have been asked about the performing arts and whether or not the defects that have been outlined are so prohibitive that we have made a bad investment.”
He said the COP applied to tour the facility on Thursday but were told that they would get a response to this request on March 23.
“We thought that there might have been a facility for the public to tour without having to make a request,” he said. “We have learnt that even the security officers don’t go inside of the building themselves. So nobody knows what is going on.”
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,117625.html
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NAPA- setting the record straight with facts.
Port of Spain, Trinidad
NAPA - Setting the record straight with facts.
* The first major stakeholder consultations for the Performing Arts Academies took place as far back as 12 March 1988 at the Jean Pierre Sports Complex under the then-NAR Government. In 1990, a committee convened by the Prime Minister put forth a new plan for a National School for the Arts, Steel Band Theatre, an overall Creative Arts Gallery and administrative offices. When the Urban Development Corporation was formed in 1994 one of its first assignments was the design and construction of the National Academies for the Performing Arts based on the accumulated advice of concerned stakeholders. Consultations with stakeholders were also conducted by former Culture Minister Ms. Joan Yuille Williams. It's clear that stakeholders have been valued participants all along and even under different governmental regimes.
* Approximately TT $100 million in contracts were awarded to local subcontractors for various construction elements. All concrete and related works were contracted locally. Additionally, the suppliers of kitchen equipment and other significant components of the fit-out were purchased locally and installed by local labor.
* Our experts estimate that 20,000 cubic meters of concrete were laid in the foundation, with every single pour inspected and signed off by the engineer of record. Concrete suppliers tested the strength of the concrete from every pour and reinforcing steel was similarly safety-checked. Project partners even tested the bearing capacity of the soil to ensure that the foundation will have sufficient strength. Geotechnical surveys undertaken also made certain that construction met all requirements.
* All steel on the NAPA project was tested - over 250 tonnes - and every single weld was tested. The super-structure of the building included approximately 5 miles of welds that were safety-checked on a continual basis. The steel work was performed by Shanghai Construction and testing was carried out by qualified local contractors. International experts on the project chose a type of steel that was appropriate to the needs of the project and preferred for the seismic environment of Trinidad and Tobago - clearly meeting the international building codes. Almost all of this safety and quality-control work was performed by local contractors.
* The loading areas of NAPA were designed for the needs of a learning academy. The facility is built specifically to give students the opportunity to construct large sets and structures inside the building. Even so, the loading areas of NAPA have been sufficient for major performances. These include multiple performances during CHOGM - with the loading in of dozens of steel pans, a 50-piece orchestra, large costumes and two grand pianos all at once.
* The NAPA stage is modeled after world-class academic facilities like the performing arts academies of the Baltics, Shanghai and Chicago. The stage is intended to be so versatile that opportunities for expression are only limited by the stretch of an artiste's imagination. Sixteen sets of curtains and large construction spaces offer students the ability to create any sort of space they desire.
Inter-disciplinary performance was the key factor in fitting out this academy, which has no equal in the Caribbean. The moving stage is designed to accommodate the quick movement of steel bands, orchestras, theatre performers and sets. The wood floor design facilitates dancing and high-impact performances, cushioning dancers to an extent that meets all expectations of a multi-use surface.
The performance space and seating capacity are considered well in line with benchmark venues of this nature - world-wide.
At NAPA there are spaces conducive to the layout of "black box" theatres, and it is left to the end-user to make decision as to the final use of each room.
The academy rooms are sound-proofed and the three multi-functional rooms are acoustically designed, stage lit and include small stage areas. These facilities are all considered useful for a variety of performing arts, based on the requisite needs of a teaching academy.
Rooms intended for dance instruction are fully equipped with appropriate vinyl flooring, and standard apparatus.
While there is not a specific outdoor amphitheatre, there are ample outdoor spaces and venues for potential outdoor productions. In a creative environment such as an academy for young artistes, we see every opportunity for students to pursue their artistic vision throughout the NAPA space.
World-class experts from outside contractors consulted on the sound and lighting installations and found them to be more than sufficient for a teaching environment. The equipment installed is intended to provide high-quality performance capabilities and a spring-board teaching environment.
All the components are in place to configure sound and light fixtures as needed. There is capacity to add even more stage-related elements depending on requirements of the user.
The "back of the house" area of the main theatre stage is replete with all standard elements. There are dozens of dressing and costuming spaces with lighting and facilities. Showers, clothing storage and restrooms are easily accessible back stage and on all levels of the facility.
Construction space and storage are designed for students to learn all aspects of performance production. The spaces are more than ample, as evidenced by the Brian MacFarlane CHOGM production, Dance Meh Lover and Chinese Ballet productions.
Add the FACT that I saw an Errol Fabien video PRAISING the facility and there was dancing going on and on A WOODEN FLOOR TOO!
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Not only is the dance floors..yes floors those for training also wooden and vinyl, but the backstage enterances look pretty damn large too, and the audio system is in Chines and ENGLISH! It looks analog though from the buttons, but the Minister assures us that it is Digital...so what now?
What is the real story?
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Not only is the dance floors..yes floors those for training also wooden and vinyl, but the backstage enterances look pretty damn large too, and the audio system is in Chines and ENGLISH! It looks analog though from the buttons, but the Minister assures us that it is Digital...so what now?
What is the real story?
Nah....they said it was analog....I remember that cuz it was the only thing they admitted was true about the allegations....
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Not only is the dance floors..yes floors those for training also wooden and vinyl, but the backstage entrances look pretty damn large too, and the audio system is in Chines and ENGLISH! It looks analog though from the buttons, but the Minister assures us that it is Digital...so what now?
What is the real story?
Nah....they said it was analog....I remember that cuz it was the only thing they admitted was true about the allegations....
OK, but here nah, from the video I saw, that place is very impressive and the allegations seem unfounded...notice I say seems...
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One issue I have with this NAPA is the size of the main Hall. The capacity is about 1500? I honestly felt that it should have been more. 3000 - 4000!
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Not only is the dance floors..yes floors those for training also wooden and vinyl, but the backstage enterances look pretty damn large too, and the audio system is in Chines and ENGLISH! It looks analog though from the buttons, but the Minister assures us that it is Digital...so what now?
What is the real story?
Nah....they said it was analog....I remember that cuz it was the only thing they admitted was true about the allegations....
But for a sound board analog vs digital is just a matter of preference.... like scratch dj's preferring vinyl over cd or a guitarist choosing a tube amp over a digital processor like Boss GT 8... some people just prefer analog over digital.... you'd be surprise how many studios use analog over digital...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_Processes,_Inc.
dis company mainly installs analog mixing boards...
"API became the leading audio broadcast console manufacturer for radio and television networks and high profile stations... In addition, recording studios, large and small, began using API.....with rave reviews from producers, engineers, and artists alike. There are over 700 API consoles around the world, including the three major television networks. And many of these consoles are still in daily use in some of the most prestigious recording and broadcast facilities in the world."
Rudabiri's statements was rather irresponsible or he just doh have a clue when it comes to high end live sound reinforcement or sound reinforcement in a grand scale... He should check the facts before he make a judgement call. I know he is a musician but he is no sound man, if that is something he focus to highlight in the investigations.
Just shows me he is a rookie and should leave expert things to experts..... or how much of his report is knowledge based or facts vs opinion....
my 2 cents... :beermug:
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Rubadari have axe to grind I feel he is Airman lol
The damn place looks real good. The dance floor is wood too and the back entrances HUGE
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:rotfl: ah never see a man who love to call another man name so much..Trinity Cross go in ah corner and play with yuhself if yuh bored nah man ..Here what I am not Rubari, I am the new Gardner at yuh boy Patos house serving Hazel water all morning.:rotfl:
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:rotfl: ah never see a man who love to call another man name so much..Trinity Cross go in ah corner and play with yuhself if yuh bored nah man ..Here what I am not Rubari, I am the new Gardner at yuh boy Patos house serving Hazel water all morning.:rotfl:
Like how you LOVE to invoke Manning's name? and...............................................................................................
if yo want props for swxing Hazel, g brave..Haiti I am sorry.....
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Man get sensitive. :D .because ah take a swing at he Daddy Woman..I told you continue to call my name and run behind me everywhere I go and I may give you a step brother to play with so you wont be so bored..not Haiti for you but instead Daddy Patos I'm Sorry :devil:
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Ramlal rebuts Ravi B on NAPA
By DARCEL CHOY Friday, March 26 2010
PRESIDENT of the National Chutney Foundation Vijay Ramlal has presented proof that his request to host the World Chutney Soca Monarch at the National Performing Arts (NAPA) was denied by Culture Minister Marlene McDonald.
At an Artists Coalition of TT press conference yesterday, Ramlal presented a letter dated November 20, 2009 from the ministry acknowledging receipt of his letter dated October 12, 2009 and stating that the ministry was unable to “accede” to his request.
Ramlal used the letter to rebut reigning Chutney Soca Monarch, Ravi “Ravi B” Bissembhar’s comments on Tuesday that his (Ramlal) statements that they were not allowed to use NAPA, were misleading.
“I spoke with him last night (Wednesday) at 10.46 pm and he indicated to me to make sure that it is clear that he never said that,” Ramlal said of a conversation he had with Bissembhar.
Ramlal noted that he was not an enemy of the State or an enemy of McDonald. He said he has worked with every government that has come along.
He explained that he wanted to host such an event before the country loses its culture. “We were hosting 25 countries who were sending their artistes down. We must have it here on an annual basis because we would not want to be in a situation to go to Alaska to know that is where our artform is now being showcased,” Ramlal said.
Ramlal pointed out that his foundation has never had the opportunity to see NAPA on the inside and were only aware of the technical intricacies of the facility through ACTT. “We understand now that the ministry is going to have a group of photographers and journalists tour the facility but we are saying a semi or technical group of parties can also make that visit collectively.”
Ramlal admitted he was apprehensive to make statements about NAPA as he still had to approach the ministry for upcoming events. “I am hoping that the minister and the ministry do not find a reason not to continue supporting us. We depend on their support,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ravi “Ravi B” Bissembhar said that the ministry has not contacted him since he demanded his image be removed from electronic advertisements in which he appears to be endorsing NAPA.
- on a side note - drinking rum and singing about it, sleeping in d drain, beating yuh wife is not my culture. Them fellas does make me sick and shame to be a coolie and it does make we look sooo backward and stupid. I glad NAPA not hosting them with that tootoo.
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UDeCOTT engineer admits to defects in construction of NAPA
Friday 26th March, 2010
In an attempt to once and for all end the controversy over the arts centre, the Ministry of Culture on Friday took journalists on a tour of the facility.
Culture Minister Marlene McDonald and Head of the Artistes Coalition, Rubadiri Victor, have been at odds ever since Mr. Victor claimed that NAPA needs $80 million worth of changes.
In a brief conference before the start of the tour, UDeCOTT Chief Construction Engineer, Hayden Paul, said it was not unusual for there to be some defects in any construction. Read the rest http://ctntworld.com/LocalArticles.aspx?id=19404
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No one can take Rubadari's assertions seriously, his concrete floors turn out to be wood laminate, his backstage dors are not small but HUGE. His assertion that the controls are in chinese are false..what else?
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Multi-million dollar headache
By Cecily Asson Thursday, July 1 2010
Minister of Planning, Economic and Social Restructuring and Gender Affairs, Mary King yesterday revealed that and additional $90 million is needed to complete the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA), Todds Street, San Fernando while a “few hundred million more” is needed to finish the Chancery Lane Complex a short distance away.
King also stated that work on the multi-million dollar complex, which is scheduled to house several government offices, came to a halt in April after contractor Johnston International left the site. No reason, she said, has been given and they are now in search of a new contractor to complete the project which should have been completed in August 2007.
King along with Minister of Arts and Multiculturalism Winston “Gypsy” Peters, and ministry officials conducted tours of three projects of the Urban Development Corporation of TT (Udecott): NAPA at Todd Street, San Fernando, Chancery Lane Complex at Chancery Lane, San Fernando and Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba.
At the Brian Lara Stadium, King told reporters they had been guaranteed by management that the cost will not exceed the $879 million plus VAT. This means that the stadium would come in at an estimated $1billion.
Speaking after being taken through the Chancery Lane Complex by project manager Ravi Lalla, King disclosed to reporters that a new contractor has to be found. “Obviously there are contractor problems, the contractor left the site, so we now have to find a new contractor or contractors in order to finish.” King said she has not yet received a reason for the action. “I haven’t found out why they left. I will have a meeting with officials.”
She said the initial cost of the complex was $296 million and at this stage $440 million has been spent. “We are looking at another few hundred million more to finish it.”
The projects have been saddled with cost overruns and other related problems and she was unable to say when the complex will be completed.
“The building is here and we have to finish it.” She said the bidding process has to take place again and “we have to try and get the best contractor to complete it.”
Peters suggested that the library space in the complex, which comes under his ministry, be given up for the use of an oncology centre because of its close proximity to the San Fernando General Hospital.
“I would give up this space in a heart beat . Instead of building an oncology centre we have this already, convert it into that.”
The tour yesterday began at the NAPA at Todd Street. The building, he said, was an “impressive one”, but was 75 percent complete and should be ready by January 2011. However, he expressed his concerns that it was one year behind, due to problems encountered with the removal of some sewer lines. He also said that NAPA was also facing fines for violating laws. The seating capacity of 810 persons in the main theatre and 110 in the smaller theatre came in for heavy criticism from Peters, who is also a performer calypsonian.
“Neither of them is worth the money, not this one or the one in Port-of-Spain is worth the money for the seating capacity. We could have built something that would house much more people.
Let us face it, if you have a show in Trinidad and Tobago, and you have 810 people there, you have a buss show. Nobody wants to keep a show with 810 people unless it is Mas Camp Pub or something. But not something like this. These things should be built for much more people than this,” said Peters. He said while it was too late to redesign the building there was still enough time to correct the flaws which have been detected. Peters promised that the Naparima Bowl will stay despite the presence of NAPA.
“The Naparima Bowl is a historic site and the Naparima Bowl would stay, whatever we use it for it is going to be cultural but it would stay under my watch,” he said.
The group then moved on to the controversial Brian Lara Stadium where Peters said while the cricket pitch was “nice” the actual building was “an abuse of our money by the admission of the management on this place.”
“We have to spend a lot of money on this place not only the exterior but the carpet that they have down right now. By the time we are ready to open this place all those things will be all messed up and there will be an additional cost to change it.” He said $879 million is for a stadium that has not been finished.
King said while there have been cost overruns she was assured that it will not go over the $879 million plus VAT.
“It doesn’t include what we understood was going to be involved in the complex, that there would also be an academy and a hotel and training grounds. It doesn’t include the academy and the hotel. So from that point of view, if we want to complete it as a complex, then there will be a lot more money that will have to be spent. That is a decision the Government will have to take, given the information that we have today.”
(http://www.newsday.co.tt/galeria/2010-07-01-5-2a_NAPA_South_1.30.jpg)
$90M more: Ninety million dollars is needed to finish the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) in San Fernando.
(http://www.newsday.co.tt/galeria/2010-07-01-5-1a_hancery_lane_tour_1.30.jpg)
Wanted: New contractor: On the outside, it looks architecturally sleek, but Government has to find a "few hundred millions more" plus a new contractor to complete the Chancery Lane Complex in San Fernando.
Author: Lincoln Holder
(http://www.newsday.co.tt/galeria/2010-07-01-5-4a_brian_lara_stadium_tarouba_10.30.jpg)
Nears completion: The Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba finally nears completion after five years under construction at a cost of $879 million plus VAT.
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I eh realize manning was trying to 'manhattanize' san fernando too.
That Lara stadium look real nice
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I eh realize manning was trying to 'manhattanize' san fernando too.
That Lara stadium look real nice
Yeah, it really looks like Manning loved his tall buildings! 8)
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ah hope dis gov't start tinking bout performance clauses, dat goh mean dat d kick backs ain't go be big eh fellas<SARCASM>know alyuh go find a way to make ah lil someting ;) , ENT JACK ;) <SARCASM>, but d money wastin ha to stop
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Govt raises questions over $497m Tarouba stadium loan
By: NADALEEN SINGH (T&T Guardian).
Finance Minister Winston Dookeran and Attorney General Anand Ramlogan are in discussions about a $497 million loan taken to construct the Tarouba stadium, said Sport Minister, Anil Roberts. The loan was taken, but the contractor was not paid, Roberts said. “The previous government ... on November 19, 2009, took out a loan with First Citizens for $497 million, yet I am hearing that the contractor, Hafeez Karamath Ltd, is stating that they have not been paid in one year.
“We are now trying to find out where has that money gone. First Citizens is now calling upon the Ministry of Sport to pay back that. The Attorney General and the Minister of Finance are in some deep discussions analysing that entire Cabinet note,” Roberts said. The stadium was first budgeted at $850 million, but has since increased to more than $1.1 billion. Speaking during yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference at the Prime Minister’s Office, St Clair, Roberts said he was awaiting the report on the Tarouba stadium.
“We have reached nearly $1.1 billion and there’s no end in sight. Unfortunately, I cannot give you an update on anything to do with the Tarouba stadium and what state it is in. It is a Udecott project. It is under the Minister of Planning and when they give us a report, we would know,” Roberts said. He said many people have made requests to schedule events at the stadium, but they cannot be accommodated. “The ministry’s position is that no human being, no citizen, would enter that facility until it is given a clean bill of health by forensic engineers, by health and safety specialists and by project management consultants. We will try our best to finish it because taxpayers’ money has been spent. If it can be finished, it will.”
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I eh realize manning was trying to 'manhattanize' san fernando too.
That Lara stadium look real nice
Nah man, for 1 billion? Dat lookin like CIC grounds. Dat is d biggest waste of money i have seen in trinidad. Which is impressive after alla dem conferences manning had.
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‘I want my money’
By ANDRE BAGOO Sunday.
March 20 2011
MICHAEL ZHANG, the managing director of Shanghai Construction Group (SCG), the company which worked on the controversial construction of a church at the Heights of Guanapo, is calling upon the State to pay his firm $54 million in relation to several projects, including additional work done on the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA).
“We understand the pressure the Government is under, and so we would like to give the Government some more time,” Zhang told Sunday Newsday this week in relation to a $54 million bill which he sent in December to Finance Minister, Winston Dookeran.
In a letter, dated December 15, 2010, Zhang wrote to Dookeran, urging the Finance Minister to deal with what Zhang called “overdue payment,” and to fork out millions in relation to a $16 million contract for the construction of police stations which was awarded by Udecott two weeks after its former chairman Calder Hart resigned, and mere days before Parliament was dissolved.
In his letter, which has been obtained by Sunday Newsday, Zhang called for the payment of about $14 million in relation to the controversial Port-of-Spain Academy for the Performing Arts; $16 million in relation to work on the Ministry of Education tower in Port-of- Spain; $7.3 million in relation to work for a “police station academy infirmary”; $2.3 million in relation to the South Academy for the Performing Arts, and the payment of a $16 million “advance payment” due in relation to the controversial multiple police station contract. “To date, we are still waiting for the certified payments of $26,191,843.65 from Udecott,” Zhang wrote in his letter of December 15, 2010. “Furthermore there is approximately $28 million remaining to be evaluated, certified and executed.”
The SCG managing director added, “These large amounts of money do play a vital role in the operation of the company, including our daily expense and payments to local contractors and local suppliers.”
This week, Zhang said he is yet to have settled, any of the issues raised in his letter.
“The Government has a lot to deal with,” he said, in apparent reference to the flood of bills left unpaid on State projects, dating from under the last administration, as well as pending wage negotiations with public servants overdue for years. “We do not want to put too much pressure on them.”
Zhang is at the heart of a controversial company which has ties to Udecott, and to the former prime minister, Patrick Manning. SCG was the recipient of an estimated $2 billion worth of Udecott contracts under the last Government, some of which were awarded on a sole-select basis in relation to a supposed “Government-to-Government” loan with China. Others were awarded after tender.
SCG was the company building the controversial church at the Heights of Guanapo, a project that was being built in the name of the supposed “spiritual advisor” of the former prime minister Patrick Manning.
The police, last June, raided SCG’s Keate Street, Port-of-Spain, offices in relation to a pending probe of Udecott projects. Controversially, the State approved the transfer, reportedly for $5 million, of a Westmoorings property to Zhang on the very day that the Port-of-Spain NAPA opened.
Questioned over this real estate transaction this week, Zhang said, “That is a private matter, and it is not connected with the payments issue.”
(http://www.newsday.co.tt/galeria/2011-03-20-front-1_Michael_Zhang.jpg)
MICHAEL ZHANG, managing director of Shanghai Construction Group, is appealing to Government to pay an outstanding $54 million, for work done on Udecott projects
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Robot's got the beat
Innovation Centre launch at NAPA
By Aabida Allaham aabida.allaham@trinidadexpress.com
Story Created: Apr 6, 2011 at 11:58 PM ECT
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Robot_s_got_the_beat-119375554.html
(http://media.trinidadexpress.com/images/1302147963638n19.jpg)
WITHOUT missing a beat, Thumru skilfully beat upon the tabla stealing the show from his counterparts.
Dressed in a white cotton shirt and a black and gold headscarf, he seemed to be undeterred by the mob of photographers taking his picture, but then again he was the only robot amongst the musicians performing at the formal launch of the Caribbean Invention and Innovative Centre (CIIC) at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA), Port of Spain, yesterday.
His creator, Prof Prakash Persad, said Thumru was a product of four years of hard work and a desire to see Trinidad and Tobago known for something else other than oil and gas.
"The first prototype took about six months, and then we have been improving on it to make it more complex."
"What we have done now is that we have programmed it, before, it was just one rhythm it could play; now it can play a variety of rhythms in Indian music," he said.
Persad, an associate provost in science, engineering and technology at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT), heads the CIIC and is responsible for designing and commissioning the facilities which form part of the design and Manufacturing Programme at the University.
According to Persad, since UTT is establishing itself as an entrepreneurial university, engineering students and those from other disciplines are encouraged to use their final year projects as an opportunity to develop new products or innovate old ones for the purpose of commercialisation.
"Well right now we are looking at producing (Thumru) as a novelty item, you can have it at your functions that sort of thing, and actually for myself, I am looking at starting a business and renting these out...but the opportunity exists for students or people with good ideas to have those ideas developed and mass produced in India or China," he said.
The reason for it being produced there, he said, was because the cost of labour in Trinidad and Tobago was too great.
The purpose of the CIIC, however, is mainly to assist in economic transformation and provide technical assistance to inventors, entrepreneurs, small manufacturing enterprises and industry in creating new innovative products.
"The focus is thus on product development while the intent is to provide entrepreneurs and business enterprises with customised product services," Persad added.
During an interview with members of the media, Persad said he "used industrial automation, the same sort of technology used in the factories to automate processes" to create Thumru and believes that this same technology can be used to create a range of robots.
"Right now we have a robotic Indian dancer and we are having a series of concerts for Indian Arrival Day where we going to have the robotic Tabla player with the band".
"We are also developing a full robotic band and since I am familiar with Indian music, that's the thing we are using first".
"One of my PhD students is also developing a robot that can play the pan and that should be out by the end of this year or so," he added.
With regard to funding, Persad said it was a challenge because while they "want to approach the Government for funding...there is an issue of credibility, they feel you can't do it so we need to show that we can do it".
Located in O'Meara, the CIIC however, is partly funded by the Centre for Enterprise Development (CDE) and the European Union.
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South NAPA due to open October
By Richardson Dhalai (Newsday).
Thursday, September 29 2011
The much-anticipated National Academy for The much-anticipated National Academy for the Performing Arts, [NAPA], South Campus, is scheduled to be opened by the end of October.
However, speaking to reporters during a tour of the facility’s Todd Street, San Fernando campus, Arts and Multiculturalism Minister, Winston “Gypsy” Peters however said use of the facility was not “free” and persons would be required to pay a fee for use of the building.
“The purpose of my visit is to see at what stage the complex is at right now because we have an opening date set for October 31,” Peters said, adding, “we may tweak that a little bit to coincide with City day in San Fernando so we may tweak that a little bit to coincide with that so get a hands on feel if they ready.”
“And we would want people to know from now that it is open for business. You know we in Trinidad and Tobago believe that because it is a government building everything should be done for free,” Peters added.
“Everybody wants it and they send something to you, we want NAPA, we want to have an event in NAPA, we want you to waive the cost, now if you have to be constantly waive the cost, then it means that NAPA is not where you want to have your fupnction,” he said.
“There would be a cost to this, we are going to put costing on it. It’s not going to be anything that anybody couldn’t pay, but they would be keeping in line with what we believe is reasonable for a facility such as this,” Peters added.
(http://newsday.co.tt/galeria/9-1a_Culture_minister_tours_7.___28-9-11.jpg)
The spLendid fountains of the South Academy of the Performing Arts was in full operation yesterday as the facility was handed over to Arts and Multiculturalism Minister Winston Peters. Author: VASHTI SINGH
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Serious structural flaws keep Napa closed
By Reshma Ragoonath (Guardian)
One year after it was shut down, the $500 million National Academy for Performing Arts (Napa) still remains closed.
And, according to an engineering expert, repairs could cost the Government millions to repair.
Arts and Multiculturalism Minister Dr Lincoln Douglas has expressed disappointment and frustration over the closure of the facility.
Cabinet was expected to make a decision on how to treat with the litany of structural faults and failures at the Port-of-Spain facility.
Last April, Napa was shut down after it was deemed unsafe by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha.)
Sunday Guardian understands that a structural engineering report has been submitted to the Cabinet for review and cites some serious flaws, among them welding bolt failures, requiring urgent attention.
Douglas confirmed that an engineering evaluation has been done on Napa and it has been submitted to the Cabinet.
The minister refused to divulge the findings of the report.
“I wanted the Cabinet to get a complete eye of the report and then I would make a complete statement. I do not want to preempt the decision of the Cabinet...” he said.
He could not say how much the repairs could cost.
Napa cordoned off
Napa, which was constructed by Chinese firm Shanghai Construction, under the People’s National Movement-led regime and formerly opened in 2010, remains a safety issue. At present, the facility is cordoned off by galvanised sheets and caution tape.
Douglas said he was “very disappointed” that the facility cannot be used.
“It is quite sad and frustrating to have a facility like this sitting around that we are unable to use to the max because of those significant flaws that are related to design and all kinds of structural problems,” the minister lamented.
He said a lot of the issues at the facility were related to “improper project oversight in the last administration of government as it relates to the building of these facilities (Napa and the Southern Academy for Performing Arts.)”
Douglas said what makes the situation more difficult was the fact that it was constructed not only as an auditorium, but an academy for the teaching modules related to the arts and the culture industry.
Douglas said the ministry was working with Shanghai to upgrade the building.
However, he said, “There are still more very significant and detailed issues that has to be addressed and I would leave that up to the cabinet decide that.”
Building code coming—Moonilal
The structural faults found in Napa highlights the need for a building code and a presiding authority to ensure its enforcement.
Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal, who has responsibility for Udecott, the state agency that presided over the project, said he has not made any suggestions to Cabinet regarding Napa, since that facility falls under Arts and Multiculturalism.
However, Moonilal said T&T would be getting building code to deal with small structures within a couple of days. He said the national building code committee, which is led by chairman Shyankaran Lalla, has been working “very hard over the last couple of years” on the building code.
“We are on the verge now of signing off with the national agencies concerning a uniform code. We expect that will be done within a few days. We have funding for the code committee, and we also have funding for the international agencies assisting with that, so funding is in place,” the minister assured.
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NAPA to be shut down
By Andre Bagoo (Newsday)
THE NATIONAL Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA), Port-of-Spain, which has been partially closed since last year due to safety and health reasons, will be completely shut down, Minister of Arts Dr Lincoln Douglas said yesterday.
Asked by Newsday for an update into the $500 million facility which was opened in 2010 to host the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Port-of-Spain, Douglas said a detailed report had identified several problems with air quality and structural issues.
“We have done a full engineering evaluation of NAPA,” Douglas said at the Cabinet media briefing held at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair.
“That report was sent to the Cabinet and subsequently to the Ministry of Works for evaluation and determination. The Ministry of Works has advised that the whole building be shut down.” Asked when this advice was issued for the building, parts of which are still in use, Douglas said, “It has been issued a while now. We are working with various ministers and the various parts of the organisation.
As you know, NAPA contains both the theatre, the school of UTT (University of Trinidad and Tobago): the art school, and a section that is a hotel that is under the Ministry of Tourism. And so we are working together to provide the process by which that closing strategy should be done.” Asked if students use the building, Douglas said, “There is a school there, the performance theatre and the UTT. That is the main part of the building that is being used and so we have to exit gradually. “The plan is to go into the fixing of all the infrastructure.
I will have a more detailed presentation.
The question sort of came out of nowhere and I am not in any position to bamboozle.
But I will have a formal press conference about the state of NAPA; the results of the report and what is needed in order to rectify that building.”
“The facility is still open because it is being used up to this point in time,” Douglas said. “There are students in school and we are immediately looking to find ways to move them out.” Douglas added, “It is not like immediately urgent but it is as a result of health and safety concerns which means it cannot be occupied over a long period of time both in terms of air quality and physical structure of the building that needs to be repaired.”
Pressed further by reporters, Douglas said he would schedule a press conference for next week after a Cabinet meeting.Americans Jeremy Campbell (57.32) and David Blair (56.83) finished second and third respectively. Stewart’s throw beat the previous Parapan Games record of 55.81 metres, set by China’s Xia Dong in London 2012 by more than four-and-a-half metres.