Members of the Joint Consultative Council of the construction industry (JCC) yesterday walked out of a meeting with National Infrastructure Development Company (Nidco) chairman Carson Charles before it began.
Shortly after 2 pm yesterday, members of the media arrived at Nidco on Melbourne Street, Port-of-Spain, in response to an invitation from Charles to witness the opening statements of the meeting on the Armstrong Report on the Debe to Mon Desir segment of the Solomon Hochoy highway to Point Fortin. When JCC members arrived at the conference, however, they expressed surprise at the media presence and JCC president Afra Raymond left the room, along with several members.
Raymond was heard saying the group had not been invited for the purpose of talking to the media. He spoke to Nidco staff and urged other members of the JCC to leave the conference room. The group walked to another room in the building to have a closed-door meeting among themselves while Charles addressed the media. “It is a misunderstanding,” Charles said, adding that Nidco could not force the JCC to do anything.
“We will meet with them anyway. We are going to have a nice long chat this evening but with respect to the media, they don’t wish to have that before the meeting,” he said. Charles admitted that it was a protocol issue and the JCC had not been told the media would be present. He said he felt there would be no problem with the meeting itself which continued despite the confusion. “They just prefer to talk in private,” he said.
Charles said the JCC had asked for the meeting to discuss what Nidco had done with the Armstrong Report and to follow up on issues listed in the report. He denied Nidco had ever had a problem with former Senator James Armstrong heading the committee, which reviewed the disputed Debe to Mon Desir section of the highway.
He said while he had no problem with the committee itself, it was inaccurate to say it was independent, as Armstrong and the other professionals on the committee had been selected by the JCC. Asked why, if there were problems with the constitution of the committee, the Government had agreed to pay for it, Charles said Government contributed to the payment but did not fund the entire project.
He said the Government was asked to contribute by the JCC and agreed to give approximately $800,000, while the JCC funded approximately $400,000. Charles said the Armstrong Report had been considered and said he would discuss that with the JCC then issue a statement.