Geo-technical engineer Francis J Arland yesterday testified that not enough investigations were carried out before the construction of multi-storey apartment buildings in the Las Alturas housing project, at Lady Young Road, Morvant, despite prior knowledge that the land was unstable.
Called as the first of three expert witnesses to appear on behalf of the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) when the Commission of Enquiry resumed at the Caribbean Court of Justice, Henry Street, Port-of-Spain, Arland, a partner of Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers (MRCE) of New York, said he was not asked to investigate the buildings at the site but rather the ground upon which they were situated.
Arland made the disclosure during cross-examination by attorney Justin Phelps, who is appearing on behalf of Geotech Associates (GA) Ltd.
Stressing that he was a geotechnical engineer and not a forensic engineer, Arland agreed that during the course of his work, which sometimes included reviewing documents and reports, it was unethical to be vague with his opinions.
Arland, a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, confirmed that a letter had been sent from the project contractor China Jiangsu Corporation (CJIC) to the HDC on December 9, 2012, highlighting the movement of the land, which they claimed was “unforeseen.”
Questioned by chairman Mustapha Ibrahim as to whether the contractor’s statement was correct, Arland said, “We believe there was evidence prior to construction about the slope failure but this was not adequately investigated. It was not unforeseen.”
Arland was a member of the team headed by forensic structural engineer Dr Robert Ratay which was employed by the HDC in 2012 to carry out further investigations at the site following land slippage.
There was a “disconnect” between the data received from compaction tests done at Trintoplan’s lab on soil samples taken from under the demolished buildings, Arland said, but based on the results one could conclude that there would be movement of the land over time.
Questioned by commissioner Dr Myron Wing-Sang Chin about whether buildings H and I could have been saved had the remedial measures suggested by the team been implemented, Arland explained that the recommendations were not made to mitigate the slope movement but to slow it.
He said other measures recommended included reducing the load placed on the unstable land, and constructing drains to draw off underground water which could adversely affect the soil composition.
Admitting that the measures outlined were not guaranteed to stop the slope movement, Arland said they were not asked to offer any permanent suggestions to save the buildings.
In cross-examination, lead attorney for the commission, Senior Counsel Pamela Elder, referred to two reports prepared by GA in 2004 and 2006 which had been presented to Arland for review.
Focusing on the 2006 report in which GA recommended that conventional approaches would not be sufficient to address problems at the site, Arland confirmed under cross-examination that GA did in fact conduct soil resistivity tests and drilled eight bore-holes at the site—measures they had previously said would be insufficient to assist in detecting problems at the site.
Claiming that GA bore-holes were not drilled deep enough as they only went down to a maximum depth of 26 feet, Arland said his team’s bore-holes were drilled down to a depth of between 67.5 and 105 feet.
The second expert witness, Jon J Kangos of Severud Associates Consulting Engineers of New York, was sworn in yesterday but was unable to be cross-examined as the first session of the second evidentiary hearing came to a close.
He is expected to be cross-examined when the matter resumes at 9.30 am today.
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Attorneys for the Commission include Pamela Elder, SC, and Jagdeo Singh, both of whom are instructed by Alvin Pariagsingh.
Appearing on behalf of the HDC are Vincent Nelson, QC, and Larry Lalla.
Richard Mason and Jehan Mohammed, along with Faydia Mohammed and Brendon Sullivan, are appearing for Udecott.
Attorney Justin Phelps is appearing alongside Anabelle Sooklal for Geotech Associates Ltd (GA), whereas Emerson John-Charles and Zenobia Campbell-James are appearing on behalf of CEMAS.
At a glance
The Commission of Enquiry was set up to investigate “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, which includes the procurement process. Two multi-storey units of the Las Alturas housing project began falling apart after construction and the $26 million towers were earmarked for demolition.
They were part of a larger project, which was originally budgeted at $65 million and then rose to $90 million. The commission is chaired by former Justice of Appeal Mustapha Ibrahim. The other members include civil engineers Dr Myron Wing-Sang Chin and Anthony Farrell. Attorney Laraine Lutchmedial is the secretary. They were appointed by President Anthony Carmona last December. Last September, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar recommended an enquiry into the project after raising concerns about the two towers which had to be demolished.
Persad-Bissessar said Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley, who was a former housing minister under the PNM, as well as Emily Gaynor Dick-Forde, who succeeded him, have distanced themselves from blame. Rowley said though he welcomed the probe, it would be another waste of taxpayers’ dollars.