Confusion surrounds the purchase of a $1 million toilet that has remained unused in Curepe Junction for the past six years. The stainless steel automated public toilet (APT), which was purchased in 2008 by general manager of Specialist Lighting Ltd, Deborah Maillard for the then People’s National Movement-led Tunapuna Piarco Regional Corporation (TPRC), was the subject of an investigation by the Integrity Commission (IC) into its procurement process.
The two-unit toilet, the first and only in T&T and the Caribbean, Maillard said, would have provided the public with a safe and clean facility. Former chairman of the TPRC Khadijah Ameen said after she assumed office in 2010, the IC wrote the corporation requesting procurement documents on the toilet. “I sent a box filled with files to the commission,” Ameen disclosed on Thursday. Since then, Ameen said, she had not received any feedback. From the outset, Ameen said, the APT had been plagued with problems.
“First there was objection to the toilet’s location. Then we discovered that a contract was issued for the maintenance of the toilet and a $30,000 cheque for the first job had to be stopped by the corporation because it was way too much,” Ameen said. Ameen said it would have cost the TPRC $42,000 a month to upkeep the public convenience, to which she was opposed; hence, the reason it had never functioned.
“That’s when council in 2012 passed a resolution to get a buyer for the toilet, but this fell through the cracks after the 2013 local government elections. “If the resolution has expired the new council has the authority to come up with another decision if they so wish.” According to PNM St Joseph/Valsayn councillor Marcia Chan Pak, who sits on the eight-month old council in whose electoral district the toilet is placed, the corporation’s CEO “does have possession of the keys.”
On Friday, the IC’s public relations officer Mervyn Crichlow said matters investigated by the IC are private and he could not divulge its findings. Questioned about the investigation, Maillard said “the IC clarified that neither I nor my company were the subject of or was under investigation by the IC.” She said the toilet was installed and commissioned and an additional advisory service was provided gratis to the corporation for several months.
“Delays could have arisen if the corporation was waiting on a connection from TSTT. This connection is important to facilitate some of the APT's capabilities, which allow for communication with emergency services in the event that the occupant of the APT is sensed to have stopped moving,” Maillard said. Maillard said after six years of the toilet not operating, a complete assessment of the unit would have to be made.
“Before we can do this, however, we have to ensure that it can even be switched on. The assessment exercise could take one to three months depending on the findings.” She said her company gave a demonstration to all 14 corporations, but the TPRC and San Fernando showed the most interest. Patricia Mejias under whose chairmanship the toilet was purchased said it was not she who gave approval for the APT, but former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Local Government Indra Furlong-Kelly.
A $500,000 downpayment was made towards the public convenience. Money from the corporation that was scheduled to go back to the ministry’s consolidated fund was used to purchase the unit, Mejias said. “They tried to implicate me. I was not involved in the awarding of the contract. I don’t know why they requested an investigation because everything was done above board. I know it have manual toilets in this country that have been built for more than $1 million.”
Mejias said the corporation had purchased the toilet because it created a healthy environment and met the needs of the physically challenged and visually impaired. “The toilet never worked because a foreign installation crew that was supposed to train a team of corporation workers for a year to operate the mechanics of the toilets never happened.”
Chairman of the TPRC, Edwin Gooding, said the council was trying to unravel what went wrong with the contract since the “toilet was a big investment. It’s a big issue for the corporation...one that we are trying to address.” Gooding said steps had already been taken to contact Maillard to find out if she had the competence to service the toilet, otherwise the council would have to contact the main supplier in New Zealand. “We are not going to sell the toilet. We just want it to work.”
Toilet features
•Fully automated.
•Self-cleaning.
•Vandal-resistant.
•Air conditioned.
•Users get a fresh sanitised seat every time.
•Baby changing table.
•Safety