Morgue built next to kitchen

Among problems encountered by contractors currently at work on the site are: placing of a morgue next to a kitchen in the hospital’s original design, inadequate reinforcement to support the structure of the building, problems with two retaining walls that surround the structure, use of timber in the original design, faulty plastering and a last-minute addition, by Government, of air-conditioning which, according to engineers yesterday, will place heavy demands on the present structure.

On a site visit of the facility, the commissioners were informed by project managers of the problems with the building left behind by the original contractor NH International Caribbean and the Canadian consulting firm of Stantec.

The original design for the hospital placed a morgue next to a kitchen facility. When the error was picked up, according to officials at the site yesterday, the morgue had to be relocated. With no suitable location in the present structure, a separate structure was eventually built on site to accommodate the morgue.

National Insurance Property Development (NIPDEC) Manager Wendy Ali said $135 million had been paid to NHIC and Government overpaid NHIC by $2 million. Health Minister Jerry Narace last month in Parliament, said NHIC owed the Government $9.1 million.

The hospital is expected to be completed at an additional cost of $415 million by China Railway Construction Company (CRCC). NHIC initially estimated cost of the project to be $474.2 million, excluding fittings.

Ali and several officials at work on the project yesterday blamed the problems on faulty work by the original contractor, NHIC.

“Why wasn’t the consultant (Stantec) also held responsible?” Uff asked. Ali said NIPDEC has originally taken legal advice on its contract sums due to NHIC, but did not examine the issue of Stantec’s role in the project.

NIPDEC and NHIC have taken the hospital project, which was started in 2002, to arbitration. Work was suspended in 2005 before resuming last November under new contractors CRCC. CRCC is expected to complete work on the hospital in 16 months from the start of work and will be charged a penalty fee of $10,000 per day if it completes the hospital late, according to Patrick Caesar, the Regional Programme Manager for NIPDEC.

At the site, officials yesterday revealed that plastering on several of the walls of the hospital was defective and actually had to be peeled off. They also revealed that several wooden beams, made of timber, needs further reinforcement. “In some areas, we will have to put in reinforcements,” Caesar said.

Timber imported for the project from Treeline Wood Products Limited, Alberta, Canada, were said to be termite resistant, but when questioned about this by commissioner Kenneth Sirju, one official said he could not be sure. Steel on the project was also said to not fit the standard of work expected on a building of the hospital’s nature.

The hospital project is being managed by NIPDEC and Canadian firm Genivar, a company that is at work on several of Udecott’s projects. Yesterday, Genivar director Susan Vivian-Cockburn accompanied the commissioners, as Udecott communications specialist Roxanne Stapleton-Whyms and several attorneys for Calder Hart kept a watchful eye.

Vivian-Cockburn said Genivar company was in negotiations with NIPDEC to determine its consultancy fee. Uff yesterday questioned the necessity for Genivar’s involvement. “We are ensuring that the level of supervision is adequate,” Caesar explained.

He revealed that when NHIC was the original contractor there had been limits to the amount of supervision possible on the project. “There was a limit to budgeting for supervising,” he said.