So when is the Curepe Interchange?

[hustla_ambition101]

I personally don't really care about the time to get into POS in the morning. To avoid the traffic you just need to leave home a little bit earlier.

I do care about the time it takes to get home and with all the lights from Curepe to Arima that drive takes a long time.

Personally I think they should start further downstream first before starting with the Curepe interchange. Maybe Golden Grove/Piarco first then start to do others further West. I also don't think we need such complicated clover type overpasses heading up there. Simply elevating the highway over the main roads and using traditional traffic lights below should be more than adequate.

Quit being logical, how else will funds be funneled into the pockets of financiers for substandard crap.

[Slartibartfast]

So many things need to be done. So many things can be done. So many wonderful ideas presented by ordinary citizens... but sadly there is a grand disconnect between those that possess the knowledge, and desire and those that possess the ability.

I think T&T needs an overhaul.

Focus on local agriculture above all else followed by

Local production so that we can meet our own needs.

Then focus raising the purchasing power of the citizens through remuneration. Raise minimum wage and industry rates for employees and set standard for what percentage of people a company can employ on contract (depending on company size and employment position) as well as the company's rights to fire under performing individuals especially in public offices (in other words try to make higher pay and higher productivity the norm).

Then focus on raising the purchasing power of citizens even more through reducing expenses. Impose caps for how much rent an apartment buildings can charge and how much certain grocery items can be sold for as well as regulating profit mark ups for certain industries. Introduce massive fines for selling counterfeits as originals as well as companies that do not honour their warranties.

Now here is the kicker to help with the issue of traffic flow. Everything I talked about would require a lot more work (job creation). So where ever these new jobs are created, incentives/preference can be given to residents of the area to work there (including those that are renting in the area). Encourage people to live close to where they work.

And then upgrade the hell out of our public transport system.

Now the reason why this Utopia will never come to pass is because a lot of what is proposed here is aimed at reducing the wealth gap and we all no why those that are able to do that will ensure that it won't be done.

I'm just rambling off the top of my head so I'm sure there are some errors in my thinking

[sliderz1]

when thats over hopefully they do one at macoya, remove all lights from orange grove all the way west

all that would accomplish is yuh go reach the pileup caused by the bottleneck to get into POS a lil faster.

Want no more gridlock to get into POS?

develop a zoned school district system & a zoned state entity district system outside of POS & other major commercial hubs & get all schools & gov't entities ,save a select few, out of POS & leave POS strictly for businesses & a few key state agencies.

buh whaeva,
it does take me 15 minutes to reach from home to wrk or wrk to home.
i much like d price of bodi, remain unaffected

FYI not everyone needs to go Port of Spain. does everyone from Gasparillo etc go to POS? My commute is usually from Arima to Curepe which takes on average an hour 10mins on a good day and 1 hour 45 in the rougher days at peak morning traffic. Maybe someday you'll understand the world doesnt revolve around POS and covering a distance of 16km in 1hr 45mins is foolish.

Thanks for acknowledging my post btw.
s1

[meccalli]

Focus on local agriculture above all else

Housing and amusement/public attraction developments fills bellies. Lets import some more while zone off more prime agricultural land..yeah.

[88sins]

if allyuh feel so.
like allyuh never observe that vehicular congestion on the roads consistently improve 3 times a year.
















nah daiz a happy accident, ain't no reason for it

[Soul Collector]

So many things need to be done. So many things can be done. So many wonderful ideas presented by ordinary citizens... but sadly there is a grand disconnect between those that possess the knowledge, and desire and those that possess the ability.

I think T&T needs an overhaul.

Focus on local agriculture above all else followed by

Local production so that we can meet our own needs.

Then focus raising the purchasing power of the citizens through remuneration. Raise minimum wage and industry rates for employees and set standard for what percentage of people a company can employ on contract (depending on company size and employment position) as well as the company's rights to fire under performing individuals especially in public offices (in other words try to make higher pay and higher productivity the norm).

Then focus on raising the purchasing power of citizens even more through reducing expenses. Impose caps for how much rent an apartment buildings can charge and how much certain grocery items can be sold for as well as regulating profit mark ups for certain industries. Introduce massive fines for selling counterfeits as originals as well as companies that do not honour their warranties.

Now here is the kicker to help with the issue of traffic flow. Everything I talked about would require a lot more work (job creation). So where ever these new jobs are created, incentives/preference can be given to residents of the area to work there (including those that are renting in the area). Encourage people to live close to where they work.

And then upgrade the hell out of our public transport system.

Now the reason why this Utopia will never come to pass is because a lot of what is proposed here is aimed at reducing the wealth gap and we all no why those that are able to do that will ensure that it won't be done.

I'm just rambling off the top of my head so I'm sure there are some errors in my thinking

Great post.

[cornfused]

Million-dollar questions
Curepe Interchange project
By Mark Bassant Senior Multimedia Investigative Journalist

Story Created: Nov 26, 2014 at 11:16 PM ECT

Story Updated: Nov 26, 2014 at 11:16 PM ECT
THE initial estimate of the proposed Curepe Interchange project—which has been mired in controversy over the last two weeks—was $187 million, which was subsequently revised to $309 million—the sum Cabinet allocated for the project in 2011.
This has been gleaned from documents obtained by the Express.
The chain of events that triggered public scrutiny of this proposed project came after an e-mail was sent on September 4 this year to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar by line minister in the Ministry of Works Stacy Roopnarine.
Roopnarine had alleged there was minis­terial interference in the National Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (Nidco) board by Works Minister Suruj Rambachan, which was being pushed to dump first-ranked bidder Vinci Construction in favour of second-ranked bidder Lutchmeesingh’s Transport Contractors Ltd.
Since the e-mail became public knowledge, Roopnarine has said having had the “benefit” of legal advice, she was now better informed of the process under which Nidco awards its contracts and conducts its negotiations.
At last week’s post-Cabinet media conference, Rambachan said there was “no wrongdoing... our projects are not tainted by corruption”. He contended Cabinet’s approved budget for the Curepe Interchange project was some $309 million.
But was it $309 million initially? And how was that figure arrived at? According to a document prepared by AECOM in 2011 and submitted to Nidco, the estimated cost of the entire contract was $187 million. However, AECOM did a second estimate which was $309 million, according to Nidco president Dr Carson Charles.
Sources in the know about the project informed the Express Planning and Associates also did a revised estimate of the project at $391 million, and with an additional $17 million required to meet the employers’ requirements—bringing the estimated project to $408 million.
This essentially—even according to Roop­narine’s e-mail and Charles in his letter dated August 29, 2014, to permanent secretary of the Ministry of Works Issac James—was that Vinci’s reduced price of $442 million “from an engineering point of view to be relatively close to the revised engineer’s estimate”.
Roopnarine indicated in her e-mail the bid of Lutchmeesingh Transport Contractors Ltd and that of third-ranked GLF-Coosal’s of $331 million and $416 million, respectively, “was very unlikely that the Cabinet-approved budget would hold” since the revised engineer’s estimate of the last three years was not taken into consideration.
And as the Express probed further, it was discovered the breakdown of the project estimate showed a projected cost for the bridge facility of $14 million for the interchange in the first AECOM document that at least three experts, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said did not make sense.
“That the bridge facility alone was likely to cost close to $200 million since the design would be of a similar nature to the Aranjuez Overpass,” explained one of the experts familiar with the proposed project.
Construction sources confirmed the cost to construct that overpass was $190 million, VAT-inclusive. That overpass was constructed by Vinci Construction.
Rambachan made this observation about the evaluation process last Thursday: “The difference between the first and second, I am advised by Nidco, was about one point, so one point represented in technical and finance $200 million difference.”
But was it just one point?
The Express obtained the final evaluation report, which tells a different story.
When the original evaluation had been done and both the technical and price scores were weighed, Vinci placed first with 92.68, and Lutchmeesingh Transport Contractors Ltd was second by almost two points, with 90.75.
When the final evaluation was done, considering the best and last offer, Vinci came in with an overall score of 94.98; with Lutchmeesingh second ,with 90.75; just edging out GLF-Coosal, which finished third with 90.16.
So Vinci was actually four points ahead, and not one.

Lutchmeesingh’s track record

Over the last few days, former Public Services Association head Jennifer Baptiste-Primus and others have questioned Lutchmeesingh’s Transport Contractors Ltd track record and its competency to construct the Curepe Interchange, if chosen.
One of the jobs given to Lutchmeesingh by the Ministry of Works recently was at Cedar Hill Road in Claxton Bay. Rambachan had indicated heavy rainfall caused the road to give way recently.
However, days before the road fell away, Trintoplan Consultants Ltd wrote to Lutchmeesingh’s, indicating it had several problems in the procedures it had adopted in the shoring of the roadway.
Trintoplan Consultants Ltd, the construction supervision engineer consultant on the project, warned Lutchmeesingh in documents the Express exclusively obtained about the potential collapse of the road because of its ineffective shoring methods.
Shoring is the process of supporting a building, vessel, structure or trench with shores (props) when in danger of collapse or during repairs or alterations.
Chief engineer Adesh Suruj­nath, in his letter dated November 2, wrote, “We consider this matter with the settlement and cracking of Cedar Hill Road to be unacceptable and a situation that needs to be immediately dealt with.”
Surujnath added in his letter, sent three days before the road collapsed, “It should be noted that the soil immediately behind the shoring is lower than the road level. This promotes surface water runoff from the road to saturate the soil behind the shoring.”
This in effect meant the roadway was compromised even before the rains came.
In a second letter two days later, Suruj­nath stated that following a site meeting on November 3, “We write to express our extreme concern with the stability of the exis­ting bridge and road at the site.”

‘Call me back’

The Express contacted Lutchmeesingh’s managing director, Partap Lutchmeesingh, on Monday via telephone to ask not only about this existing project, but about his capability to build the proposed Curepe Interchange if selected.
He responded, “Not now, call me back in half hour. I am in a little meeting now.”
The Express called back and, despite leaving several messages, got no response.
To give Lutchmeesingh a fair chance, the Express on Monday journeyed to his home at Matil­da Road, where he also operates his business, to enquire about the Nidco contract, the failing $18 million project at Claxton Bay as well as the work recently done on the Tarouba Link Road which cost $62 million, where parts of the road were already showing signs of giving way, with measures recently taken to stop the road slippage.
Employees on the compound said Lutchmeesingh had left early in the morning. During our brief phone conversation with Lutchmeesingh on Monday, he indicated he had planned meetings with Nidco set for all of next week.
The biggest project to date that Lutchmeesingh has obtained was the Tarouba Link Road that took 11 months to complete and is already showing signs of deterioratio­n.

‘Speak to Charles’

The Express contacted Minister of Works Dr Suru­j Rambachan to get clarification on what the exact cost of the proposed Curepe Interchange project was and how the Cabinet arrived at the $309 million figure, as well as to find out about the final evaluatio­n proces­s. But he did not respond to message­s left on his cellphone.
When the Express spoke to line ministe­r from the Ministry of Works Stacy Roopnarin­e, she said, “Mr Carson Charles will be better able to tell you how they arrived at the $309 million figure.”
Pressed further for comment about the initial estimate of the project at $187 millio­n, Roopnarin­e said, “I am not prepared to offer any further comment. I have made a final and definitiv­e statement which was very comprehensiv­e, and I am not prepared to make any further statement. You are asking technical questions, which I believe have to be addressed by Nidc

[The_Honourable]

China Railway gets $221m contract

China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) has been awarded a $221.7 million contract by the National infrastructure Development Company (Nidco) to build the controversial Curepe Interchange, the state company’s chairman Herbert George has confirmed.

The deal with CRCC was signed off on only recently after it won the bid and contract, bringing an end to three years of controversy and delays that had surrounded the proposed mega project.

Fresh tenders went out on March 27 and closed on June 7. Of the five companies that submitted bids, three were local while two were Chinese firms.

CRCC also won the contract for the Arima Hospital, which is being built at $1.2 billion, while they constructed the Scarborough General Hospital.

“Cabinet has approved the preferred contractor China Railway. They will be the contractor doing the job. They have a joint venture with some local people, so they would do the project,” George said at his El Socorro office last weekend.

George said the cost of the project was reduced by a staggering $179 million, as the original price tag was $400 million He said the $221 million was VAT inclusive.

“So we have saved the taxpayer quite a tidy sum, a substantial sum of $179 million in getting this project off the ground. We did the tendering in a transparent way, where people were given opportunity to tender openly and that is what we got.”

He said one reason for the slash in price was that contractors had been submitting competitive bids, which was triggered by the slowed economy and stagnant construction sector, which was now gradually picking up with the number of projects Nidco had executed in the last few months.

“Contractors are coming with competitive prices,” George said.

Nidco president Esther Farmer added that they had saved millions of dollars on a number of projects they executed.

George said Nidco used a two-envelope system in the tendering process.

“One deals with technical, so it gave us an idea of the structure of your company and how you propose to engage the job, as well as if you have the experience to give us confidence that you know what you are doing and you would be able to discharge your responsibilities.”

Asked when the project will begin, George said CRCC’s contract was being prepared and should be ready and signed in next two weeks. Thereafter, CRCC will have to submit its insurance, performance bond and pre-payment bond.

“These things would take a few weeks to finalise, but once we have everything in place work will begin full speed ahead.”

Asked where the funding for the project was coming from, George could not provide the details.

“That would have to come from the Ministry of Finance. What we (Nidco) do is give the value. We will send it on to Cabinet and Cabinet is going to approve, they are the ones who source the funds. They will just send back to us and ask us to implement. They are the client and they will find the monies and so,” George said.

He said they hope work will start actually before the year’s end. The project, which is a design build package, is expected to be completed in 18 months

“So the contractor would be in place, he (CRCC) would start work, but his designers might be working out the details.”

George agreed the interchange would play a key role in alleviating traffic along the Southern Main Road and the Churchill Roosevelt Highway (CRH) which motorists have been experiencing for years.

“This project is long overdue and it’s welcoming that construction is finally going to take place,” he said.

He said Nidco would still have to ensure work was executed without causing disruption to motorists, commuters and businesses.

Work on the interchange will start from the Southern Main Road and go all the way to the bustling intersection of the CRH. At the intersection, two loops will be built for motorists to get onto the west and east lanes of the highway. The traffic lights at the CRH intersection will be removed to allow vehicles a free flow onto the four lanes that will be constructed on the interchange.

George assured that once the project got under way, it would help create jobs, stimulate the economy and eventually bring relief to thousands of frustrated motorists and commuters.

In June 2015, then Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley had raised concerns about the $400 million Curepe Interchange project and called for it to be stopped after Nidco jointly awarded Lutchmesingh Transport Company and Vinci Construction the contract.

The contract had been given to the two top bidders and was expected to start in July—one month after, following a public falling out over the tendering process.

Then former minister in the ministry of works and infrastructure Stacy Roopnarine had locked horns with her boss, Dr Suruj Rambhachan, after it was revealed that Lutchmesingh Transport had been selected for the job even though it ranked second in the tendering process.

The first ranked bidder was Vinci Construction, who lost out because of its high costing for the mega project.

However, Nidco decided to award the project jointly to the two top bidders, which then Nidco chairman Carson Charles had revealed to the T&T Guardian.

This led to calls by Rowley to the then People’s Partnership government, mere weeks from a general election, to immediately pull the plug on the contract.

This was done and resulted in Lutchmesingh Transport initiating a lawsuit against Nidco over its rejected bid for the proposed interchange. The company sought damages through the court for wasted expenditure incurred participating in the tendering process, which it claimed was rendered pointless by Nidco’s breaches of contract for the opportunity to obtain a profit-making contract.

The action was filed in April 2015, two months after it was informed that its tender for the project was not considered.

However Lutchmesingh Transport lost its million dollar lawsuit against Nidco when Justice Vasheist Kokaram upheld a preliminary application from Nidco’s attorney and struck out the matter.

When Rohan Sinanan was appointed Works and Transport Minister last November, reports surfaced on social media that he owned land once occupied by the Kay Donna Drive-In cinema on the CRH which was earmarked to be acquired for the interchange and was deemed a conflict of interest. Sinanan made it clear that while it was true he has an interest in the land with other stakeholders “what has been circulating” was not true, and he promised to recuse himself from the land acquisition process.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2017-08- ... 80%94nidco

[snypaz]

Having two interchanges so close to each other makes sense? There's still gonna be traffic on the highway. Cause the lights between Macoya, Pasea, And UWI still gonna cause immense traffic not so?

[sMASH]

U propose putting it lower down like by piarco?

[The_Honourable]

Having two interchanges so close to each other makes sense? There's still gonna be traffic on the highway. Cause the lights between Macoya, Pasea, And UWI still gonna cause immense traffic not so?

The interchanges close to each other is ok. The traffic lights will be a big issue unless they are planning for flyovers later on.

This was the 2014 package for the interchange. Not sure yet if any changes has been made since:

[pugboy]

Rohan and family smiling now

[SR]

Kay donna kfc car park and the gas station gone....as well as those lands in spring village all have been holding out for years for the buyout

[10-01]

Rohan and family smiling now

well is buss throat and big money for land take it and smile ....

[shake d livin wake d dead]

After he collect the $$...then he could get fired

[hong kong phooey]

Wonder if they think about uwi and putting in feeder road to eliminate the lights there . or all that is important is two pnm supporters own land on either side of the highway which needs to be acquired.

[RedVEVO]

^^^^^

Curepe Interchange ?

Maybe in 10 years ..

Rowley cannot even buy a boat ..

[shake d livin wake d dead]

it could actually happen...them Chinee doh play....and it would happen...big contract = $$$ to be eaten

[Dizzy28]

Rohan and family smiling now

well is buss throat and big money for land take it and smile ....

People keep saying Rohan is a PNM financier but what is his source of income?

Unlike Jack who had FIFA coffers at his disposal Rohan as far as I know had a travel agency.
His family have some Beacon agencies, property in Grande and supermarket but that's about it. That can't be enough to bank roll an election campaign.

[pugboy]

he didn't necessarily have to provide his own hard cash
the angel gabriel was similar, he was allegedly the collector of the money donated by the 1% who dont like to be publicly known until they get a big contract or cheap land lease.

[Chimera]

Rohan was a pnm campaign manager not so?
his best friends is the financier

[The_Honourable]

Rohan was a pnm campaign manager not so?
his best friends is the financier

Correct.

"One of the big issues in this election, which we have just won, is that we had no policy, but we had deputy political leader Rohan Sinanan, policy and campaign manager for the 2015 general election." - Part of Keith Rowley's victory speech at balisier house on the Sept 7th General Elections.

[shake d livin wake d dead]

rohan throw een ah lil dust too...doh get tie up

[Chimera]

he and rowley have the same best friend

who could call the name

[RedVEVO]

Rohan and family smiling now

well is buss throat and big money for land take it and smile ....

People keep saying Rohan is a PNM financier but what is his source of income?

Unlike Jack who had FIFA coffers at his disposal Rohan as far as I know had a travel agency.
His family have some Beacon agencies, property in Grande and supermarket but that's about it. That can't be enough to bank roll an election campaign.

So you think Insurance, Real Estate and Grocery is small business ?

[RedVEVO]

it could actually happen...them Chinee doh play....and it would happen...big contract = $$$ to be eaten

You are correct .

Chinese also come with their own financing.

But with all that .. watch and see Rowley fail.

Why ?

He is not a Leader like Manning .

[rspann]

he and rowley have the same best friend

who could call the name

Careful, just remember he know you too.

[Chimera]

I never call any name mamoo

[bluefete]

he and rowley have the same best friend

who could call the name

De Investigator with no powers?

[shake d livin wake d dead]

That "investigator " eating ah big food from that interchange too..