Jack takes back airport contract
By Aabida Allaham
Works Minister revokes award to Junior Sammy for Tobago runway paving
WITH no board of directors in place at the Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (AATT), Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner has admitted he has awarded a contract and taken away another.
"I approved the award for the airport lighting but revoked the one for the Tobago runway paving until the new board is appointed since the request (by the AATT) made of me in the letter of July 15, 2010 described the Tobago runway as 'a low to medium risk to aircraft operations'," he said.
Warner made the statement via a press release, in response to an exclusive report carried by the Express yesterday, which stated another contract valued at $162 million was awarded without the presence of a State board to Junior Sammy Contractors Ltd, of Sum Sum Hill in Claxton Bay.
In fact, Junior Sammy told the Express he had tendered for the job back in April and was "awarded the contract towards the end of August" although it was not "officially signed off" because there was no board in place. But according to Warner's statement, this contract was pulled from Sammy in September because there was no board in place.
In Warner's statement yesterday, he said he met with officials from AATT at an undisclosed date last month to discuss the Tobago runway paving project and the runway lighting project for Piarco International Airport and Crown Point International Airport for "a second time" and eventually "deemed" the lighting project as critical although the both contracts "had been issued by the Airports Authority".
"On July 15, 2010, the Airports Authority wrote to me requesting my approval to fix the Tobago runway, saying, 'The runway at Crown Point must be urgently rehabilitated as it currently poses a low to medium risk to aircraft operations', consistent with complaints made by airline pilots since September 27, 2002 and continuing."
"On August 24, I visited Tobago to meet the Chief Secretary (Orville London) and a delegation from the Tobago House of Assembly.
"My delegation and I inspected the Tobago runway with the technical officials from the Airports Authority, and we were shown the defective runway."
To date, "the letter of July 15, 2010, from the Airports Authority to me, remains unanswered to this day, pending the appointment of the new board," the statement added.
However, Sammy had told the Express on Tuesday while he was waiting for the contract to be "officially signed off", he had already begun peripheral work around the Tobago airport.
Even AATT's acting general manager Louis Frederick had confirmed Sammy was, in fact, chosen out of three other contractors to carry out the project.
And according to information received by the Express, Sammy was the second highest bidder.
Seereeram Brothers Ltd, of Xeres Road, Carlsen Field in Chaguanas, had the highest bid of $180 million.
When contacted, the engineer who worked on the project, Prakash Sookram, said, "Sometimes you win some and sometimes you lose some."
"That's the nature of the work."
The lowest bid, valued at $67 million, was tendered by Trinidad Contractors Ltd, which has been described as one of the oldest companies in Trinidad and Tobago with experience in building airport runways in countries across the region.
However, when the Express contacted managing director Bob Mahabir, he declined comment.
"I have certain things in train with respect to the airport, and it is not in our best interest at this time to divulge anything," he said.
The fourth bid, valued at $80 million, was made by Colas Construction Ltd, a French company with years of experience in the business.
According to a source, however, even though Warner has said the contract given to Junior Sammy to repave Crown Point was "revoked", the only reason it was awarded in the first place was because of "merit".
Merit, the source explained, was earned partially because Junior Sammy had repaved Piarco International Airport back in 2007.
However, the Express was also informed many of the local contractors who qualified for doing particular jobs tend to "jack up" their prices because they know they will still get the job as they are often the only choice when it comes to the awarding of contracts by Government.