Hinds unhappy with pace of prison renovations

FITZGERALD Hinds, Minister in the Office of the Attorney General and chairman of a joint select committee on national security, is dissatisfied with the pace of refurbishments at the Golden Grove Maximum Security Prison (MSP), Arouca. He called on senior prison officers and contractors to do their part in ensuring projects went smoothly and were completed on time.

Speaking at a committee sitting on Friday at the ANR Robinson Room East, in Parliament, to discuss the implementation of suggestions to improve security at the prison, Hinds said the three-year delay in completing a new ration room for preparing meals was unacceptable.

"I must tell you that as an observer and as a member of this committee, I am not altogether very impressed with the absence of urgency, keeping times and deadlines for what is in front of us. Contractors who work for the State create issues for us from time to time, when they don't deliver, we don't deliver and when we don't deliver, the State is castigated and held to account in the constitutional courts too.

"Altogether we agreed that private contractors have a very crucial role to play in the visibility of our work and it is important them to deliver on time. A contract is not a favour, it is an obligation on both sides to pay and to receive (service). I am not too happy with the slippages and delays, because every day delayed has serious cost and traumatic implications for the citizens."

Hinds also called on acting prison commissioner Dane Clarke to ensure the work was done in a timely manner.

Hinds said a large part of the work of government bodies was done by private contractors who operated on "profit motives," and prison officers should take personal responsibility for supervising the pace of work.

Construction of the ration room at the prison began on July 2017. Project manager of the prison;s programme management unit Mark Lutchman said it the room is expected to be completed by February.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security Vel Lewis said one issue that led to a delay in construction was the contractor's lack of project-management skills.