I wish to correct a misleading portion of a story written by Ms Shaliza Hassanali in the Sunday Guardian newspaper, September 21, 2014. Additionally, I wish to provide some clarity on some contentious issues in the Las Alturas matter. In the story, Ms Hassanali juxtaposed two comments from two T&T Guardian newspaper stories, published one week apart, which quoted me, but she did so in a manner that could mislead the reader and have a negative impact on my character. When your Ms Renuka Singh first asked me about the project I said that I knew nothing about it (I have no records of its timeline nor any other remarkable fact on Las Alturas from my time as Minister with responsibility for Housing).
One week later, when the prime minister made her statement that the HDC board of directors signed the contract for construction in 2008, it was clear that I was the person holding the Housing portfolio at the time. That did not mean that I signed nor had knowledge of the contract being signed, nor did I have knowledge of any other material issue that pointed to the potential for the project to have this disaster.Regrettably, Ms Hassanali's story omits the fact that I made the second statement "based on" new information. She should have known this since she quoted from the two stories that carried my comments. I am concerned that a matter of simple comprehension could be misrepresented in this manner in your respected publication. I am hoping that your newspaper corrects that misleading piece.
Secondly, I wish to make a few observations concerning this serious Las Alturas matter to help shed light on what are the critical issues for consideration.Two years ago, in May 2012, these buildings collapsed! The prime minister in her statement said that the buildings "collapsed under the PNM." This is not true. It was widely reported that they collapsed under her administration in 2012. The structural cracks were first sighted in September 2010 and the buildings collapsed in May 2012, when Dr Moonilal held the Housing portfolio (this is stated in a news story referencing an HDC report on the matter).
Additionally, back in May 2012 when the structures caved in, no one asked "who was the minister?" because it was not the issue and still cannot be. I did a simple search recently and found the stories about the collapsed buildings in different newspapers saying the same thing. The stories from May 28, 2012, report that the buildings were completed in January 2010. They report that the cracks were observed by September 2010 to floor slabs, walls and windows (this contradicts the timelines in the Prime Minister's statements). The HDC report referenced in the stories informed that between November and December 2010 a local firm was contracted, "Geotech Associates Ltd..." Additionally the news stories report the following:"So who's to blame? Geotech Associates director, Malcolm Joab, who was also present at the site yesterday, said: 'That's a good question.' He said in October 2008, Geotech did a sub-soil report and the soil was deemed adequate to begin construction..." (When I held the portfolio.)
"... Manager of Jiangsu International, Jianguo Yang, said it was a natural land movement that caused the failure of the structure. 'It was no fault of the contractor,'" he added. He said soil tests done before construction gave them the green light for construction." (Source: http://m.guardian.co.tt/news/2012-05-28/hdc-demolish-two-26m-housing-projects downloaded September 20th, 2014.)
Note that in these reports it is very clear that the contractors report getting "the green light for construction" and therefore the signing of a contract to begin work was without any issues requiring caution.
I can state without fear of contradiction that during my tenure as Minister with responsibility for the Housing portfolio no defects were reported to me on Las Alturas. The only concern was for the need to construct a "rubble drain" before units could be handed out in that phase of Las Alturas, although they were reported as "completed". When I inquired, I was told a rubble drain was needed because there were drainage problems on the site. Hence the units were not distributed to citizens under my watch. I thank God for that! I believe the interest of the public can be served meaningfully in this matter if the engineering issues are more rigorously examined and the reasons for not picking up the problem before construction, carefully analysed. Lessons can be learned from that for the HDC and the construction industry as a whole.
More importantly, the country can have a deeper understanding of the issues for construction on hillsides and perhaps even a little more respect for the Town and Country Planning regulations in this regard. The main focus should be the safety of the citizens and gaining a better understanding of what has happened and what may or may not happen in the future on that general site, or similar locations.I end by noting that authentic leaders do not play the blame game. Leaders look for meaningful solutions and they educate the people in situations like this. We need credible, responsible leaders to emerge from this period of deep division and unhealthy discourses.My prayer is for God's continued mercies and blessings over our nation!
Dr Emily Dick-Forde,
Former Senator and former Minister of Planning, Housing and the Environment, in the PNM Administration–appointment period November 17, 2007 to May 23, 2010.