The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

THE Urban Renewal Commission is awaiting the conclusion of the Public Accounts Committee’s probe into its Small Homes Repair programme before fully pursuing the contractors who were allegedly paid to repair homes but did not undertake or complete their duties, Urban Renewal Co-Chair Algernon Allen said yesterday.

Some contractors have already been sued, according to Mr Allen, while “one or two” matters have been referred to the Office of the Attorney General. He also said that the PAC has “given us directions” on which actions to take against some of the contractors.

However, Mr Allen said there have been some contractors “that we have not been able to deal with, and that’s why we hope that the guidance of the PAC will give us a way forward.”

Mr Allen’s statements came almost a year after he told The Tribune that the agency will “pursue to the depths of hell” those contractors who did not complete or produced unsatisfactory work for the SHR initiative. He later said the government intended to recover funds from the contractors by litigation.

The matter stemmed from a leaked report prepared by Auditor General Terrance Bastian last year, which found that 11 contractors were paid more than $170,000 for work that was not completed or done in the SHR programme. The government later commissioned an independent study, which contradicted Mr Bastian’s report and found that the programme did receive value for money.

Nonetheless, PAC Chairman Hubert Chipman in September told The Tribune that the committee was commencing a full analysis of the information it had gathered, stating that it was clear that the SHR programme is “disjointed.”

“We are anticipating the report from the Public Accounts Committee with an open mind which will undoubtedly give us some sense of guidance and be able to help us structure in a fashion which is inclusive of all views, the proper way forward,” Mr Allen told The Tribune yesterday.

“We are very appreciative of all the gargantuan efforts of the PAC and of all the attending agencies in this exercise. We’ve been advised that we should await the overall conclusions so that when we move forward with our specific – either changes or recommendations – it would be one that takes into account those conclusions as well.”

When asked if officials had successfully recovered any of the funds, Mr Allen said: “Undoubtedly, we sued some of them (the contractors), but there were others undoubtedly which the PAC would have given us directions on as well.

“We have referred one or two matters to our attorney, who would be the Office of the (Attorney General),” he continued. “But there are some which really we have not been able to deal with, and that’s why we hope that the guidance of the PAC will give us a way forward. They can suggest to us, because we have some distinguished members on the body, how best they think we should proceed.”

He added: “The PAC is necessarily taking its time. I suspect that they want to have a credible report, which properly reflects the gravity of their duties in guiding what is perhaps one of the most significant social interventions in the history of our country. And so we appreciate that and we await them and we wish them to take their time to do an appropriate and comprehensive report as is possible.”

In April 2015, Mr Bastian’s scathing report was leaked to the press and sparked months of heated debate over the management of Urban Renewal and possible abuses of the programme.

According to the report, one contractor was paid $30,000 for “repairs that were not visibly done” on a home that appeared to be “abandoned.”

Another contractor was paid $9,999 for “incomplete” work on a home, and the report said the house was not located. Additionally, another contractor was paid $9,800 to repair a home that “appeared to be abandoned with little or no evidence of repairs done”.

The report also noted that there was no competitive bidding for the home repair contractors and the contractors were not required to provide proof of all-risk insurance.

Mr Bastian’s report was based on a study for the period July 1, 2012 to September 30, 2014.

After it was leaked to the media, Mr Allen and Urban Renewal Co-Chair Cynthia “Mother” Pratt criticised the report and saw its contents as a personal attack on their work.

The PAC has used the report as part of its probe into Urban Renewal.