Calder Hart's Las Alturas trial starts in his absence

FORMER Udecott chairman Calder Hart’s challenge of the Las Alturas Commission of Inquiry’s findings of its report on the controversial housing development has started in his absence.

Hart took legal action in February 2017,after the report, which was laid in Parliament in September the year before, said he should be held responsible for the failed $26 million towers. The trial of the former Udecott boss’s claim against the commission began yesterday before Justice David Harris at the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain.

The commission 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 included the procurement process.

Two multi-storey units of the housing project began falling apart after they were built and the $26 million towers were earmarked for demolition. They were part of a larger project, which was originally budgeted at $65 million and then rose to $90 million.

The commission was chaired by former Justice of Appeal Mustapha Ibrahim and included civil engineers Dr Myron Wing-Sang Chin and Anthony Farrell, both of whom were in court yesterday. Ibrahim died in June 2017.

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