The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net THE Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC) had threatened to remove Jose Cartellones Construcciones Civiles Company (JCCC), the main contractor on the $113 million New Providence Road Improvement Project, from its list of approved contractors back in 2010 due to the alleged poor quality of work, a report by the Public Accounts Committee revealed. The second report by the committee, which was tabled in the House of Assembly yesterday by its chairman, Dr Bernard Nottage, gave a review of the New Providence Road Improvement Project (NPRIP) and government spending. The report noted that in a Disputes Board Report dated September 6, 2009, Mott MacDonald, which had been hired to act as supervising consultants on the project, had expressed serious concerns about JCCC's quality manager departing from the site, and that no replacement had been appointed. And, in a second Disputes Board reported dated the same day, the firm noted that it was of the view that "JCCC was not complying with its contractual obligations to exercise quality control of material". The committee's report noted that in a fourth Disputes Board Report dated June 25, 2010, it was suggested there was a problem with certain construction matters, such as the quality of the sidewalk concrete. Then, a sixth Disputes Board Report said WSC had complained of substandard workmanship with regards to pipe testing. WSC told the Board that portions of the water main that Bahamas Hot Mix worked on met pressure tests that JCCC couldn't meet. WSC representatives also testified about their dissatisfaction with the quality of work as it pertained to the laying of pipes. According to the committee's report: "WSC was not satisfied with JCCC's use of bending material, the joining of the pipelines and the pressure testing of pipelines. The work being performed by JCCC, in the opinion of the representatives of WSC, was not in accordance with the standard specifications for laying water pipes." The committee's report went on to note: "Things got so bad that in November 2010, WSC threatened to remove JCCC from its list of approved contractors." This, however, did not stop the deficiencies from reoccurring. JCCC subsequently changed supervisory personnel and WSC assigned an engineer full time to the Ministry of Works project execution unit.