The controversial $26 million Las Alturas towers which were demolished due to structural problems are now engaging the attention of Attorney General Anand Ramlogan. This was revealed by Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal, who said they were looking at the legal options available to the Government and the Ministry of Housing.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar called for a commission of enquiry into the construction of Las Alturas housing project, after raising concerns about the two towers valued $26 million, which had to be demolished. Persad-Bissessar said 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 has welcomed the probe, but said it would be another waste of millions of taxpayers’ dollars. Dick-Forde, in a Guardian article yesterday, claimed that when the contract for the second phase of Las Alturas was signed between the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and China Jiangsu International Corp (CJIC), she was the minister.
However, last week, in an interview with the Sunday Guardian, Dick-Forde had indicated that she did “not know anything at all about that building and had no recollection of ever approaching Cabinet for that project.” She also said when she took over HDC from Rowley, she inherited “a mess.”
Robert Ratay called in
Moonilal said in 2011 the HDC called in Dr Robert Ratay, an international forensic structural engineer, along with his team of structural and geotechnical experts from Sevrund Associates Consulting Engineers and Mueser Ruteledge Consulting. He said Ratay and his associates were to review the structural drawings and geotechnical reports, assess the conclusions of various reports, conduct independent investigations if warranted, recommend remedial action, and provide litigation support if required.
“We needed an independent body to give expert and technical advice on the towers. “Moonilal said the team raised several engineering issues. “Then the HDC started to look for approvals and for the technical report on the site, but we got none. So we got suspicious. I inherited a lot of problems at the HDC.”
Moonilal said he did not see this issue “as political” since the forensic work was done by an international agency. “They are not into politics. They are an independent body.”
About Ratay
Dr Ratay is a consulting structural engineer in private practice with nearly 50 years of design, construction, and teaching experience, and an adjunct professor at Columbia University in New York. He has been an expert consultant/witness for engineers, contractors, owners, attorneys and insurance companies in the investigation and litigation support of over 200 cases of structural problems.
Earlier in his career he had been a structural designer in practice, and professor, chairman and dean of engineering in academia.
Ratay’s recommendation
Ratay cited the demolition of Buildings H and I as the option with the lowest degree of difficulty risk and exposure. Local engineering consultants Trintoplan Consultants Ltd were also engaged by the HDC to assess the conditions of the buildings and give their opinion concluded in their report that both buildings should be demolished.