The Tribune

MINISTER of Labour Shane Gibson responded to questions in the House of Assembly yesterday concerning the JL Centre on Blake Road.

The building, which was acquired by the National Insurance Board in April 2004, was bought at the price of $9 million, he said.

The appraisals for the building, Mr Gibson said, priced the structure at anywhere from $10.5 million to $15.482 million.

On April 24, 2006, a contract was awarded to Randall Penn / Ranmar Precision Development for work on the structure for the amount of $4.217 million.

This contract was terminated by NIB in 2009, Minister Gibson said, without cause.

A contract was re-issued to Coastline Construction Company Ltd on April 12, 2012 for $8,879,530.21.

Work began under the Coastline contract on April 16, 2012 and to date the contractor has received only the mobilisation fee of $887,953.02.

However, Coastline Construction Company Ltd, he said, subsequently agreed to surrender the contract in May 2012 and to return the mobilisation payment to NIB.

At this point, the minister said, there are no current costs being expended with respect to this project as there is no work presently being carried out.

However, he said, it is important to note the history of the project.

“Lawrence Chisholm and Associates (LCA) was engaged by NIB in 2005 to provide professional architectural services to complete the required renovation to the JL Centre.

On October 7, 2005 the following contractors were invited to bid on the project: Aries Constructions, Ran Mar Precisions Development, Guarantee Construction, Pro Construction, Brokell Construction, AMEE International, Bildex Construction, and GB Construction.

“Following the advisement of the Ministry of Works, Ran-Mar Precision Development was evaluated and ultimately awarded a contract for $4,217,000 on April 2006.

“On July 11, 2007 the contact with Lawrence Chisholm and Associates was terminated by the NIB.

“As a consequence of LCA’s termination, Ran-mar’s position was that it was not being adequately supervised nor paid for work completed, and given the inordinate laps of time: it was constrained to stop work on the project until the impasse would be resolved.

“Notwithstanding that no formal letter of termination was issued to Ran-Mar, NIB concluded that the contract was terminated in 2009. After lengthy discussions and negotiations, on April 3, 2012 the dispute between the board and Ran-Mar was settled and resolved in April 2012.

“In an attempt to complete the outstanding work on the JL centre in 2012, the following companies tendered bids: Coastline Construction Company Ltd, Cavalier Construction Company Ltd, Carl G Treco Constructors and Developers Ltd.

“The contract to complete the renovations to the JL Centre Building was subsequently awarded to Coastline Construction and Development Company Ltd by way of a tender process that was concluded on April 2, 2012 for contract sum of $8,879,530.21 plus contingencies,” he said.

Following the surrender of the JL Centre Building contract by Coastline, the board of directors of the National Insurance Board recommended in July 2012 that Ran-Mar be engaged to complete the renovation of the JL Centre Building for the residual amount of the contract that had been awarded to Coastline, Mr Gibson said.

It is anticipated that around 120 Bahamian jobs will be created when this project restarts.