By ERWIN CHLANDA
There were defects in the hospital emergency department work in 2013 carried out by Lahey Constructions which has just been awarded a $30m tender for more work at the hospital.
This has now been confirmed by the Minister for Infrastructure, Peter Chandler, but he would not provide a dollar value, saying only: “Minor defects and omissions were required to be rectified by the builder following practical completion.
“This is generally the case will all projects as the identification of minor defects and omissions results from the practical completion inspections undertaken by the department before final completion certificate is issued.
“These defects were rectified by the builder at no cost the NT Government. It will require time to backtrack on the project records to obtain details of the defects that were rectified.”
Mr Chandler said no legal action was undertaken nor was it necessary “as the builder complied with their contractual obligations to rectify defects in the prescribed period”.
PHOTO: A dance by traditional healers (nangkaris) opened the $25m hospital emergency department in June 2013. It was also a Lahey Constructions project.
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
The freedom of the press still furnishes that check upon government which no constitution has ever been able to provide – Chicago Tribune.
Local firms do shoddy work as well, not just firms from interstate. Just look at the faults we had in the new Mall. That was a local firm. [I understand] there were up to 180 faults that had to be fixed. These may have been small, I don’t know.
@ Fred: Yes, locals have defects but pick up the phone and they will be available.
If you remember the operating theatre flooding – we had to wait for them to send a team from out of town to access and then carry out works, which left all surgery on hold.
The company that did the mall are just about to outlay a large amount of own funds to do the old lawn bowls development.
I’m yet to see any thing over the last three years that Leahys have put into this town, yet I’m sure they are using our local budget to finance developments in New South Wales.
The bowling green development is only to sell off the units for profit. This is not a tender contract.
It’s not going to help people purchase low price housing. Let’s be honest, its a competitive world out there and if you’re not competitive you won’t win. Like the developer of the Melanka development, the local tradies will need to sharpen their pencils.
There are always going to be defects in construction work – that is just what happens.
In Lahey’s case they used a lot of local suppliers.
The other thing that just can’t be ignored is the fact that Lahey’s improved the OH&S systems of so many local businesses – bringing them in line with the rest of Australia.
I support local business, but not if it is going to cost above the odds.
@ Another Observer: I am sorry but that is factually incorrect. OH and S standards of large construction companies have increased in Alice Springs due to an increasing number of companies seeking FSC Accreditation to allow them to tender on large Federal Funded projects such as this tender.
Accreditation is a lengthy and expensive process (expect to spend a hundred thousand dollars easy) – so it is disappointing when local firms make this investment and are not rewarded.
FSC Accreditation also involves the head contractors managing and improving their subcontractors. So you see, we didn’t need interstate Lahey for OH and S at all.
Unbelievable. Locals miss out again and government does a backflip. They are saying they wanted more local firms to be involved in these projects! MISS OUT AGAIN!