Million-dollar incinerator abandoned at PoS hospital

Sunday Newsday Investigation

An Incinerator, estimated at over $2M, has been left to rust on the grounds of  the Port-of-Spain General Hospital for over a year and is now almost non-operational. The incinerator was delivered in May, 2003, but work on the compound for an Incinerator Project had stopped following a dispute between the supplier and the Ministry’s purchaser — the National Insurance Property Development Company Ltd (NIPDEC). Just over a year later, the Incinerator Project and the developmental work which was supposed to have started, is at a standstill. Some sub-contractors are dissatisfied as money is owed to them.

One of the sub-contractors is owed over US$25,000, which he said is needed to pay other people from whom construction materials and services were purchased. The situation has reached a point where men, described as “enforcers,” have approached the sub-contracting company, demanding outstanding money, but the sub-contractor says he does not have the money because he was not paid for the job. The sub-contractor, (who asked that his name be withheld), said he was hired by International Waste Industries (IWI) to construct the incinerator building as well as to have the incinerator installed, while IWI was contracted to have it commissioned. IWI, a US firm, was contracted by NIPDEC as the main contractor and the local sub-contractor worked under its jurisdiction.

At an agreed cost of US$80,000, the sub-contractor was responsible for the following scope of work —
1.Demolition and removal of existing incinerator, masonry stack, steel chimney, the roof, and the construction debris
Removal and dumping of the material, equipment and debris in compliance with the pertinent local law and regulation
2.Construction of the building and foundation to include excavation, yard work, fencing and drainage
3.Utilities for building and equipment
(a) electrical
(b) mechanical, that is, oil piping, water and sewage and gas connection
4. Installation of IWI supplied equipment to include all required unloading of the equipment at the site, rigging, assembly, piping and electrical wiring, according to IWI guidelines and drawings
(5) Clean up and demobilisation

These are just a few of a long list of responsibilities for which the local sub-contractor was hired. The small company told Sunday Newsday that it was given a down payment to start the work and it began to hire workers. Work was in progress, with the concrete foundation for the incinerator being laid when the sub-contractor realised that further construction work needed to be done. The company said IWI had told it that it was not receiving any money from NIPDEC and threatened to cancel the sub-contractor’s job. “We had laid the foundation and put up the steel beams when we were told to stop the work because Government did not give him (IWI) the money,” a source from the company said. He recalled that this happened in September and to date, the sub-contractor was not paid, except for the demolition work. The company said it had also indicated to NIPDEC that the new incinerator was inferior in quality. The source said NIPDEC had later asked the sub-contractor to do the entire job since IWI was asking for too much money. However, the company was informed that IWI received the money to go ahead with the project instead. “By that time, we were owing the hardware and all the people who worked for us, had not been paid,” he said.

A rotting ‘work in progress’

Should hard-working citizens, whose salaries are being taxed by Government, be treated in such a manner, that hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment to service the health sector be abandoned by Government? the official asked. With the incinerator not functioning at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, all waste matter which needs to be burnt, such as human organs from theatre operations and other materials, have to be transported to the Mount Hope Medical Sciences Complex for incineration. “This is costing taxpayers money because material has to be taken to Mt Hope when they could have had one operating at the PoS hospital,” he said. At the hospital compound where the Incinerator Project was located, an ironic sign, “Work In Progress” is posted up, even though work on the project had ceased almost a year now. A hole which the sub-contractor had dug up as part of the construction work, is now filled with murky water and is a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Slush and mud have formed around the construction area and portions of rust now coat the equipment.

The main part of the incinerator in which the waste matter goes, has collected water and debris. During a visit to the site, people ask the sub-contractor official: “Boy, what going on with this piece of work?” “The equipment is almost unusable now; this was almost $2M in taxpayers’ money gone to waste. This is sad,” the official said. Health Minister, John Rahael, said he was not privy to the Incinerator Project by the time he came into this Ministry, therefore, he could not comment on the situation. However, Sunday Newsday was referred to an official, who did not return our call by Friday evening to shed some light on the issue.