The Housing Development Corporation (HDC), the Urban Development Corporation of T&T (Udecott) and the Ministry of Housing will be under scrutiny as the commission of enquiry begins into the $40m Las Alturas housing project.
This as the commission, in its terms of reference, is required to enquire into the decisions and actions taken by the HDC, the then Calder Hart-led Udecott and the Ministry of Housing, as well as, the procurement procedure used in the People’s National Movement (PNM) project.
On Tuesday the commission, chaired by retired justice of appeal Mustapha Ibrahim, was sworn in by President Anthony Carmona at President’s House. It is expected that the commission will hold its first session on Monday in Port-of-Spain at the Caribbean Court of Justice. Yesterday the T&T Guardian obtained a copy of it’s terms of reference which sets out the areas of enquiry the three-member commission is expected to conduct into the project.
Two multi-storey units of the Las Alturas housing project, Morvant, which was constructed by the Housing Development Corporation, suffered major structural damage after construction. The commission is expected to enquire into “the entire process which led to the construction of the Las Alturas towers at Lady Young Gardens, Morvant, and all other acts, matters or decisions done or undertaken incidental to and including the construction” of the project.
It is also required to determine whether HDC and Udecott, then led by Calder Hart, had “fulfilled or complied with the responsibilities and duties imposed upon them by law and by good corporate governance and practice, by commissioning the construction of Las Alturas” at the Morvant site. The commission, according to its terms of reference, is also called upon to enquire into the “identity of the officials, if any, who have so failed in their duties.”
Ibrahim and his commissioners are required, at the end of their probe, to make findings, observations and recommendations arising out of their deliberations to determine whether “there are any grounds for criminal and civil proceedings against any person or entity.”
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The commission is also mandated to enquire into procedures, practices and procurement processes employed by Udecott and HDC in the award of the contract for the project.
Additionally, the commission has to investigate the circumstances concerning the procurement process and the award of all contracts since the inception of the project. It will look into the advice, reports and minutes made available to the HDC, Udecott, and the ministry “concerning the suitability or unsuitability of the site for the construction” of Las Alturas and the consideration, if any, or action taken arising out of the advice or report.
It is required to determine whether the board of HDC, Udecott and the ministry “commissioned proper advices and reports into the suitability of the site” for the project. The commission has also been asked to determine the reasons for and effect of the site selection for the project and whether the HDC, Udecott and the ministry commissioned “proper advices and reports into the suitability” of the Morvant site.
The first hearing of the commission of enquiry into the collapse of Las Alturas begins on Monday at the Caribbean Court of Justice courtroom, Henry Street, Port-of-Spain, where preliminary matters will be addressed.
The commission of enquiry, chaired by Ibrahim, also comprises of structural engineering expert Anthony Farrell, a past president of T&T’s Association of Professional Engineers and structuring engineering consultant and retired UWI lecturer Dr Myron W Chin. Lorraine Lutchmedial is the secretary to the commission.