Nipdec to start spending

Plans by Nipdec to spend $2 billion this year in the construction of buildings throughout the country will have a positive impact on job creation in the sector, said Nipdec chairman Hamlyn Jailal. “I think it is important people are aware of this because you hear the comments about the construction sector,” said Jailal, 53, who was installed as chairman in May 2012. “I’m sure things are happening at the Urban Development Company of T&T (Udecott), but I can only speak of Nipdec, and there are projects we’ve already engaged people already, so very soon, we will have public tenders for the construction aspect. “I did a rough calculation before you came, and we’re looking at more than $2 billion for projects that will be awarded and start this year. (You need to ask him how will they pay for this work) We have rigid timelines. “The Attorney General’s office (corner, Irving and Sutton Streets, San Fernando) will start this year; the Detention Centre (Carib Street, San Fernando) will start this year, the Motor Vehicle Authority (Frederick Settlement, Caroni), will start this year,” said Jailal, who was interviewed last Friday at Nipdec’s offices, St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain.

 

 

He said funding for these projects will come from Nipdec’s clients: government ministries.

Among the dozen-plus projects Nipdec is currently working on are:

• Nipdec has engaged consultants for the construction of a Meteorological Services Complex (at Piarco)

• Consultants have been engaged for a Meteorological Office in Tobago.

• Consultants have been engaged for the construction of a six-storey building on the site of the old National Broadcasting Network (NBN) building, Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain.

• Engaged consultants to build a south Office of the Attorney General. That’s now at the design stage. 

• An immigration detention centre at Carib Street, San Fernando. Four consultants have been engaged.

• A judicial complex in Carlsen Field.

• A magistrate’s court in Trincity.

 

 

“We’ve gone out for tender for the Motor Vehicle Authority at Frederick Settlement, Caroni, a very big project, where, hopefully, you’ll no longer have to spend half a day to get your permit renewed; it will be ten to 15 minutes. That’s a design/build. That’s a very big project of the Ministry of Transport. “It’s a transformational kind of project in terms of what it’s going to do to this country. The idea is there will be nine access centres throughout the country: Arima, Chaguanas, San Fernando, Pt Fortin, Tobago. “You’ll have a good distribution so people won’t have to travel long distances to have their permit renewed, etc. That project is very much on. We’re currently in the process of engaging international consultants for that project,” said Jailal, who was previously Nipdec’s deputy chairman. Nipdec, which is also the procurement agency for the Programme for Upgrading Roads Efficiency (PURE), on June 14 closed tenders for the acquisition of 100 compressed natural gas (CNG) buses.

Thirty-five will be purchased in the first phase. Twenty companies bought the package. Twelve tendered.

 

 

‘Wrong approach’ to Riverwoods project

The Riverwoods housing project was a Nipdec initiative. Prospective homeowners made downpayments on Nipdec’s Riverwoods housing project since March 2006. One frustrated homeowner said in a letter to the media in 2009 that delivery date for his unit was expected to be in March 2007. He did not get his house in that time, but he did get six letters from Nipdec, a subsidiary of the National Insurance Board (NIB), indicating the delivery date had changed. Six years later, the project remains incomplete. Asked on Friday what went wrong at Riverwoods, Jailal said: “Multiple problems. I think the biggest problem at Riverwoods is the approach was wrong. It was not given to one contractor. They tried to probably generate and promote and give small businessmen opportunities. So, for example, you hired a separate plumber, you hired a separate electrician, a mason, a gentleman to do your roof. “To me, for a project of that size, that was a recipe for disaster. If you are building your own house, that could work, but when you have 200-plus units and you adopt that approach, it was a recipe for disaster.

 

 

“I really feel sorry for the residents. It was unfair what they had to go through. All I can say is we are actively engaging NIB and we have met in the last month on a number of occasions where we have submitted a detailed plan to NIB to see if we can bring closure to all of those units. We’re waiting on their response. Some of these units have been lying idle for a year or two.

“We have submitted a detailed, unit by unit, proposal on what is required to bring them up to living standard, and we are waiting on word.” According to Nipdec’s March 18, 2011 report: “The Riverwoods gated community was planned to comprise of 274 units (147 single residential units and 127 townhouse units on 50 acres at D’Abadie. “Construction works on all 147 resident units have been completed. Only outfitting and finishing works are ongoing,” the report stated. Nipdec said it advised its client, the National Insurance Board, that the townhouses should not be constructed at this point as the existing market rates would not support the proposed selling price. “A joint committee, including members of Nipdec and NIB, has been appointed to oversee the completion of the project, which is expected to be completed by August 2011. The committee meets once per fortnight,” the report stated.

 

 

Governance issues

Asked about his predecessor Calder Hart, who suddenly left Trinidad in March 2010, Jailal was ever the gentleman, kind to a fault. “I never met the gentleman. We came here and met a system and we will build on it. I don’t want to look back and condemn the man.” Throughout the hour-long interview, Jailal said repeatedly said Nipdec is a business which gets no government handouts, and generates its own revenues. He spoke of reviewing Nipdec’s management structure. “There’s now a general manager, head of pharmaceuticals. When I came on board, there was no head of legal services, although we had lawyers attached to the organisation.” Heads of finance, property development and human resource have been appointed. On June 25, Lynford Cheddie, who has a degree in mechanical engineering and a masters in project  management, will assume the role of general manager.  Cheddie worked at ArcellorMittal Pt Lisas Ltd as a general manager of utilities and engineering division. Fifty-three people applied for the general manager’s job, which Jailal figured had much to do with Nipdec’s attractive compensation packages. “When I came here, I did not meet a strat (strategic) plan. Right now, we are engaging to come up with one for Nipdec. “As a board, we want to leave a legacy to lift the bar at Nipdec, so those who come after will meet a solid foundation, so there is a bit of restructuring that we are looking at.”

 

 

 

About Hamlyn Jailal: