For the first time since they began almost a year ago, the three-member panel presiding over the commission of enquiry into the controversial Las Alturas housing development in Morvant were yesterday given a tour of the ill-fated project.
Dressed in hard hats, protective boots and florescent jackets, chairman, retired Justice of Appeal Mustapha Ibrahim, and commissioners Dr Myron Wing-Sang Chin and Anthony Farrell, accompanied by the commission’s legal team, visited the site at Lady Young Road, Morvant, yesterday morning for a site visit which lasted over two hours.
Several witnesses who testified so far in the enquiry, including geotechnical engineer Dr Derek Gay and community activist Lennox Smith, were on hand to point out structural issues with the abandoned buildings within the development, which they refered to during the testimony.
Officials of the Urban Development Corporation of T&T (Udecott) and the Housing Development Corporation (HDC), were also on hand. Smith diverted the tour briefly to point out issues with surrounding buildings which were not condemned and were leased to residents by the HDC.
“We know what is eventually going to happen here. When we warned them not to build so close to the cliff they paid us no mind,” Smith said as he pointed to a series of minor cracks which spread along walls from an occupied building’s foundation.
The commission’s staff were on hand to take notes and photographs of the issues that were pointed out. The next hearing of the enquiry at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)’s headquarters, Henry Street, Port-of-Spain, will take place on a date early next month which is to be fixed by the commission.
Former HDC managing director and current Udecott chairman, Noel Garcia, who had previously refused to testify before the commission, is expected take the witness stand on February 15.
At a glance
The commission of enquiry was set up to investigate “the entire process which led to the construction of the Las Alturas Towers at Lady Young Gardens, Morvant, and all other acts, matters or decisions done or undertaken incidental to and including the construction” of the project, which includes the procurement process.
Two multi-storey units of the Las Alturas housing project began falling apart after construction and the $26 million towers were earmarked for demolition.