Greenvale repairs to be done by next month

REPAIR work to all of the Greenvale Park, La Horquetta units that were affected in last October’s floods should be completed by the end of February, Housing Development Corporation (HDC) managing director Brent Lyons said yesterday.

During a tour of the development, Lyons told reporters that of the 483 units that were damaged in the flood waters, 50 had already been completed, signed off and handed over, while the others were in various stages of completion.

“We anticipate that by the end of February all the units would be completed in Greenvale,” he said.

Lyons, who was accompanied by HDC’s technical team, said a major challenge in the corporation’s ability to fast-track repair work was the availability of homeowners.

“So, scheduling with some homeowners was an issue in the past and I suspect it will continue to be, but we have committed to working with the contractors and homeowners to work with their time to ensure that we don’t have them inconvenienced in any way.”

Residents said they were generally pleased with the work being undertaken by the contractors.

“The work, so far, is amazing, very good, better than how it was,” said Oswald Mendez, who lives with his daughter, Betty-Ann Smith, in Phase 111 of the development. “I eh really happy because I eh win the Lotto yet but I like the cupboards.”

Natassia Ramsahai, who owns a single unit, expressed similar sentiments. “I have no complaints. I am satisfied with the quality of work, especially the cupboards.”

Lyons recalled the HDC had received complaints from homeowners about the slow pace of work in the aftermath of the deluge.

“In the recent past, we have had some complaints from residents that the work might have been of a substandard quality as well as not timely. As you can see, the works are significantly advanced and the quality is certainly good and acceptable in most cases.

“I am certain there are still some residents where some work is required to be done but we will continue to work with them to get to that stage where they are satisfied.”

Lyons said some of the contractors who fell short in that regard were replaced before Christmas while others were let go last week.

Claiming no money was wasted from the shoddy repair work, he said none of the contractors retained by the HDC had been paid.

Told that some residents were making unreasonable requests, Lyons said the HDC’s commitment was to restore what was damaged.

“A few residents have asked for some additional things to be done and they have made their private arrangements with the contractor for that to happen.

“We are not averse to that but we not getting involved in that. We are treating with items that were affected as a direct result of the flood.”

He said the scope of work included repair of cupboards, tiles, doors and some repainting where necessary.

“In a few cases, we have had to treat with the ceiling and the roof.”

Lyons said apart from Greenvale, which was one of the communities hardest hit by the floods, repair work also was due to be carried out in Oropune, near Piarco.

“I need to say that the focus has been on Greenvale but we did have folks in Oropune affected as well and we did give a commitment last year that we will get into Oropune and we will get there. We haven’t started work in Oropune just yet.”