Work on Queen's Park North Stand resumes

DESPITE steel beams going missing and halting construction on the North Stand for Carnival, National Carnival Commission (NCC) Winston “Gypsy” Peters said the stand should be completed on time.

He said work on the stand has resumed and anticipates it should be completed by February 1 or 2.

On Tuesday, there were reports of the missing beams stopping the stand’s construction and on Wednesday, reports of men being held for attempting to extort money from contractors hired to build the stand.

Peters made it very clear on Wednesday that missing beams for the North Stand’s construction were not stolen at the Queen’s Park Savannah.

Peters said the beams were missing and he could not say how it went missing.

When Newsday visited on Wednesday, workmen were seen sitting under a tent to the right of the structure, while others were also at a tent to the back. A police vehicle was also on site.

Gypsy said the North Stand had been sitting in a San Juan warehouse for five years and now “that they are bringing it back to the Savannah to assemble it, we find these parts missing.

“How they are missing, we don’t know. It is not that anyone stole them from the savannah. They are missing because we are bringing it from the warehouse and discovering that these parts are missing now.”

Peters said he did not want to speculate as to what happened to the beams.

The commission got new beams at an additional cost and some of the new beams were expected to arrive on Wednesday.

Gypsy said police was at the site to address any disruptions being caused by some people working on the stand’s construction.

He said some people wanted to be on the job but were not working and wanted more pay than anyone else.