Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Phillip Watts says an investigation will be launched into the incomplete works at the Chatham Youth Camp in Point Fortin.
He said despite the contractor receiving the total payment of $19 million the project remained about 70% completed.
Watts said this on Saturday while touring the facility.
He was accompanied by Member of Parliament for Point Fortin and Minister in the Energy Ministry Ernesto Kesar.
The construction and refurbishment of the facility was started in 2022 under then-minister of Youth Development and National Service Foster Cummings.
Under the management of the National Maintenance Training and Security Company Ltd (MTS), works were expected to cost $28 million and scheduled to be completed in ten months.
The work would have included construction of a new dormitory to house 125 candidates, a sick bay and laundromat, and there would also be an upgrade of all the structures on the compound, including the security booth, administration buildings and staff compound, including mechanical, electrical and plumbing renovations.
However, Watts stated that the project, which has been halted for over a year, was “nowhere close to completion”.
“This is one of the youth camps we would have spent to date, $19 million…What I’m seeing here, and what I’ve spoken about in the Parliament in the debate, is that the contractors here received almost 100% payment and what we are seeing here – you all are witnessing here – this project is nowhere close to completion,” he said.
This, he said, would be investigated.
“The actual works completed against the works that were paid for is out of proportion, it is out of line. The works are at about 70% completion, and we would have paid out 100% on the project. These are things we need to delve down into and investigate now. I am yet to understand why this project stopped because I don’t think we have any monies owing the contractor,” he stated.
He added that while most of the buildings on the compound were existing buildings which were renovated, there was a $10 million variation to the project.
“Now I’m hearing that there is a ten-million dollar variation to this project and we need to understand why and how it came about. We need to sit with the contractor, sit with the project team, and do a full audit of the project, do a full scope, because I’m looking at the bill of quantities in my hand and we don’t have a full breakdown for every single block to see what were the measured works on every single block. We need to do a full audit of this project,” he continued.
He said following the mandate of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, there was an emphasis to open such facilities as soon as possible to enrol students.
Kesar added that the Chatham Youth Camp was instrumental in providing a competent labour force for Point Fortin.
“This has been a critical youth development facility in the constituency of Point Fortin for well over 50 years. This particular centre would have been integral in developing young people in technical and vocational areas…It was a fulcrum for a lot of development with youths who had trouble with the law, and it would have turned out hundreds, possibility thousands of young people who would have gone on to as captains in the industry, worked in the oil and gas field, worked in Government services, some of them military and even in the police force,” Kesar said.
However, he said the facility has not been functioning at its full capacity for ten years.
“We want to see this facility as one of the centres that can assist our young people who are having problems in the school system and in terms of the violence to have them assigned here. I want to make sure that the young people who follow the campaign, they have options,” he continued.
Responding to questions from reporters, Watts stated that there were no firings at his ministry.
“Since I am at this particular ministry, we fired no one. What happened, we had persons whose contract came to an end and it wasn’t renewed. We fired no one,” he said.
