The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) has terminated its project management contract with the National Insurance Property Development Company Ltd (Nipdec) on the multi-million Shaw Park Cultural Complex.This followed a report on project by chartered quantity surveyors and construction cost consultants EQS Ltd which showed delays and cost over runs.
THA Chief Secretary Orville London said the agreement was that contractor York Structures Ltd (YSL) would have sole responsibility for construction of the centre under strict conditions, including a completion date of December 2014 at a fixed final cost of $551,752,218.16 plus Vat.Cost of construction was originally fixed at $194 million. The project has been going on for five years and is 70 per cent complete.
"My biggest problem was the lack of predictability of the completion of the centre and because of this the Assembly's desire to bring closure was in fact continuously frustrated and we realised that we had to do this thing differently," London said.He said the process had consistently undermined the credibility of his administration because it did not control the process and the "challenge was how were we going to take control of the process and what is going to be the prize, which is a big prize".
London said on November 2, 2011, the THA approved an increase in the cost of construction to $350,750,774.03 and Nipdec assured it would have been completed it by December 2012.However, after a year it is clear that the centre is far from complete although the bulk of the money has been spent.