00:00Finance Minister Colm Embert whose ministry is funding the new terminal
00:04building at the A&R Robinson Airport in Tobago says the opposition leader is
00:08peddling lies relative to cost overruns and its safety. He however admits to a
00:14delay. As of today the original construction contract sum of US $128.7
00:23million has been exceeded by US $2.5 million or 2%. The project is being
00:32built to the highest international standards and appropriate building codes
00:38for an airport. There is no cost overrun of 462 million and the project is behind
00:45schedule because of COVID-19. The Finance Minister describes progress on the
00:52project over the past nine months as remarkable with the planned construction
00:56testing and handover on schedule for March 2025 dismissing the opposition
01:02leaders claim that the date would not be met. At which point the Airports
01:06Authority can commence operational fit-out training and readiness to
01:12support the planned go-live date of July 2025 in accordance with their schedule
01:18that is the Airports Authority schedule. The foundation and superstructure of the
01:23terminal building are safe and the entire project including the foundation
01:28and superstructure is being built in accordance with the appropriate
01:32international standards and building codes. Minister Embert refused to verify
01:37or acknowledge the Mark McDonald Oakley's report circulated by the
01:41opposition though he suggested it may have been dated. I have no idea what is
01:46being circulated but what I can tell you is that both Mark McDonald and
01:50Gleads have reported to the Ministry of Finance that the project is being built
01:56in accordance with the highest international standards. And while
02:00rubbishing suggestions made by the opposition leader that SAP a contractor
02:04was terminated for their unwillingness to rubber-stamp poor work Minister
02:08Embert said their contract was simply not renewed. Nonsense. Absolute nonsense.
02:16There was no request made of any consultant to rubber-stamp anything. In
02:21relation to the variation sought by the main contractor the Finance Minister
02:26says the amount agreed to by NITCO and its consultants is 14 million TT dollars
02:31hence the overrun of 2.5 million US. But Minister Embert said the contractor may
02:37opt to make other claims. The process is that the the employer and the
02:46project engineer will look at it and determine what they believe the
02:50contractor is entitled to and if the contractor is not happy with that it
02:54will then go through the dispute resolution process perhaps ending up in
02:58arbitration or litigation as the case may be. We haven't reached there yet.
03:02Right now the contractors made claims and the panel of consultants have
03:08concluded that they should pay the contractor 14 million dollars which is
03:132.5 over the provided amount of 11.5 million dollars. He does not agree as
03:18suggested by the opposition leader that possible arbitration or legal action
03:23could result in any delays. The contractor is being very cooperative and
03:29the contractor is working with us and you would have heard a word I used
03:34inside of here called remarkable. If anybody who's been visiting to be over
03:40the last year or so and you looked at what the airport looked like the project
03:46looked like in January and yesterday the progress over the last nine months has
03:52been absolutely remarkable. We have no issues with the contractor. The
03:57contractor is working with us and is pushing hard. We asked the minister if
04:02he was pleased with NEDCO's performance which came in for criticism in the
04:06report circulated by the opposition. Well it's a complicated project and I am
04:15happy that we are looking towards a completion in March and as I said there's
04:19been remarkable progress over the last nine months. Well I just answered you.
04:25There has been remarkable progress over the last nine months. The word
04:29remarkable means something good I think. Imbed gave the project a thumbs up as he
04:36said it marks technological advancement for Tobago. We are now going to have
04:40loading bridges for aircraft for the first time in Tobago to accept
04:45international aircraft 777 aircraft and so on jumbo jets and so on and this to
04:52me is taking aviation in Tobago and tourism in Tobago to into the 21st
04:58century and I am happy to be part of this gift to the nation. Consultants
05:05Martin McDonald and Gleads have been paid a total of six hundred and twenty
05:09one thousand US dollars via technical non-reimbursable agreements with CAF
05:14Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean.
05:18Urvashi Tewari, Rupanarayan TV6 News
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