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Jamaica Gleaner
Sunday | December 23, 2001
'Dons' give KSAC 'value for money'
TOWN Clerk at the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC), Errol Greene, says that there is no shame in a recent report stating the two reputed dons received 15 per cent or $3.1 million of the $21 million spent by the KSAC to refurbish the downtown market district.
The report detailed the amount spent on the market district between October 22 and November 4, 2001. The name of Donald "Zekes" Phipps of the People's National Party (PNP) Matthews Lane appeared 13 times, amounting to $1,872,360 while Justin O'Gilvie of the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) Tivoli Gardens received $1,248,240.
Speaking with The Sunday Gleaner on Friday, the Town Clerk stressed that the KSAC had used the "forced account" process meaning that it would supervise and manage the project instead of going through normal tender which would have taken six to eight weeks.
"We used the approved Government rates and (persons) like Zekes, in this instance, would provide the masons, the carpenters, the casual labour. Given the short space of time that we had to do the work (by November 14), it was the most economical, practical, transparent, legal way to do it. We have nothing to hide," he asserted, reiterating that the two provided equipment, material and labour for the project and that the work was inspected and all labour invoices had been verified by Patrick Wong, the local government ministry's technical director.
He said though that this was not the first time that the KSAC interacted with so-called dons as any work being carried out in inner-city areas must involve area leaders and community folk.
"I don't see any record of these gentlemen with big contractors at KSAC but what I do know is that if any work is being done in that area or in other areas in the inner city, the community and community leaders must be involved."
He said that community input had gone into road rehabilitation projects and the refurbishing being done on the KSAC's Church street headquarters as the contractor must hire people from the surrounding community.
"No community in the inner city will permit carpenters from outside to come in when there are unemployed carpenters there," he said, pointing out that "you can't just send a contractor down there to there and he sends anybody he wants and work wherever he wants. We must work with people in the community. Anybody who would have got the contract would have had to work with them. They could not lay a stone down there without working with these two gentlemen."
He added that "If you have an independent contractor (not working with the dons), one of two things will happen. Either the work is not going to be to the desired quality because he has cut corners to take on all of the people he will take on or you will have work close down or people get shot or people get threatened or people just stop go to work."
He explained that Justin O'Gilvie in particular has heavy equipment as he was reportedly on the approved contractor's list and has holdings in a trucking company at the intersection of Regent Street and Spanish Town Road.
"He sources materials so it's natural that if work goes on in that area, he would be one of those who could be qualified to get the work," Mr. Greene continued.
The Town Clerk said it was easier to deal with reputed area leaders "in this particular instance because we are supervising the work and can vouch for the quality of work being done. I'm very pleased. We feel that this would have been the most economical way because the reality is even if we had given it to the big contractor, they still would have to provide some kind of employment for the community."
The Town Clerk outlined that "If we had gone to tender, it would cost a lot more because the contractor's margin would be there. In forced account, there was no margin because we sourced out materials and paid employees so there was no overhead for anybody to get. There is no shame. (It) would take six to eight weeks to get a contractor to do it and that contractor could not have done it for the amount of money that we did it, in the time that we did. He could not have done it (and) regardless, we would have had to deal with them (the area leaders)," he stressed.
Regarding arguments that the interaction with dons could be seen as hypocritical given the fact that investigators have been attempting to reduce the influence of area dons who have been reportedly at the centre of multimillion dollar extortion schemes, Mr. Greene said, "...They are the area leaders and we must work with them...We got value for money. There was no extortion. They didn't hold us up with a gun and say you must give us the work and we were pleased with what work was done and we invite anybody to take a look at what was done."
In fact, the Town Clerk said that he would work again with the reputed area leaders "if the need arises. If the circumstances are similar, we have no alternative," he added.
Jamaica Gleaner
Sunday | December 23, 2001
'Dons' give KSAC 'value for money'
TOWN Clerk at the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC), Errol Greene, says that there is no shame in a recent report stating the two reputed dons received 15 per cent or $3.1 million of the $21 million spent by the KSAC to refurbish the downtown market district.
The report detailed the amount spent on the market district between October 22 and November 4, 2001. The name of Donald "Zekes" Phipps of the People's National Party (PNP) Matthews Lane appeared 13 times, amounting to $1,872,360 while Justin O'Gilvie of the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) Tivoli Gardens received $1,248,240.
Speaking with The Sunday Gleaner on Friday, the Town Clerk stressed that the KSAC had used the "forced account" process meaning that it would supervise and manage the project instead of going through normal tender which would have taken six to eight weeks.
"We used the approved Government rates and (persons) like Zekes, in this instance, would provide the masons, the carpenters, the casual labour. Given the short space of time that we had to do the work (by November 14), it was the most economical, practical, transparent, legal way to do it. We have nothing to hide," he asserted, reiterating that the two provided equipment, material and labour for the project and that the work was inspected and all labour invoices had been verified by Patrick Wong, the local government ministry's technical director.
He said though that this was not the first time that the KSAC interacted with so-called dons as any work being carried out in inner-city areas must involve area leaders and community folk.
"I don't see any record of these gentlemen with big contractors at KSAC but what I do know is that if any work is being done in that area or in other areas in the inner city, the community and community leaders must be involved."
He said that community input had gone into road rehabilitation projects and the refurbishing being done on the KSAC's Church street headquarters as the contractor must hire people from the surrounding community.
"No community in the inner city will permit carpenters from outside to come in when there are unemployed carpenters there," he said, pointing out that "you can't just send a contractor down there to there and he sends anybody he wants and work wherever he wants. We must work with people in the community. Anybody who would have got the contract would have had to work with them. They could not lay a stone down there without working with these two gentlemen."
He added that "If you have an independent contractor (not working with the dons), one of two things will happen. Either the work is not going to be to the desired quality because he has cut corners to take on all of the people he will take on or you will have work close down or people get shot or people get threatened or people just stop go to work."
He explained that Justin O'Gilvie in particular has heavy equipment as he was reportedly on the approved contractor's list and has holdings in a trucking company at the intersection of Regent Street and Spanish Town Road.
"He sources materials so it's natural that if work goes on in that area, he would be one of those who could be qualified to get the work," Mr. Greene continued.
The Town Clerk said it was easier to deal with reputed area leaders "in this particular instance because we are supervising the work and can vouch for the quality of work being done. I'm very pleased. We feel that this would have been the most economical way because the reality is even if we had given it to the big contractor, they still would have to provide some kind of employment for the community."
The Town Clerk outlined that "If we had gone to tender, it would cost a lot more because the contractor's margin would be there. In forced account, there was no margin because we sourced out materials and paid employees so there was no overhead for anybody to get. There is no shame. (It) would take six to eight weeks to get a contractor to do it and that contractor could not have done it for the amount of money that we did it, in the time that we did. He could not have done it (and) regardless, we would have had to deal with them (the area leaders)," he stressed.
Regarding arguments that the interaction with dons could be seen as hypocritical given the fact that investigators have been attempting to reduce the influence of area dons who have been reportedly at the centre of multimillion dollar extortion schemes, Mr. Greene said, "...They are the area leaders and we must work with them...We got value for money. There was no extortion. They didn't hold us up with a gun and say you must give us the work and we were pleased with what work was done and we invite anybody to take a look at what was done."
In fact, the Town Clerk said that he would work again with the reputed area leaders "if the need arises. If the circumstances are similar, we have no alternative," he added.
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