Shanghai Construction Group (SCG), the Chinese Company that is currently constructing the Marriott Hotel in Kingston,Winston Brassington,Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping, Head of Atlantic Hotel Inc (AHI)Georgetown, may have duped Winston Brassington, the sole Director of Atlantic Hotel Inc (AHI),Cheap World Cup Jerseys, into taking on additional expenditure and further, may have sacrificed the quality of works to be done on the project.This is the view held by Chartered Accountant and Attorney-at-Law Christopher Ram, who in his recent and most revealing writings on the hotel project to date, drew reference to the price tags and what Brassington agreed to.He recalled that when AHI conceived the project, the budget was US$41M, based on drawings and specifications. It went to tender on that basis.According to Ram,NFL Jerseys Cheap, when SCG sent in a tender for US$65M, Brasington rejected it and requested that the company come back with an alternative design that would meet Marriott’s standards.Ram said that SCG came back with a design and a cost of US$51M. Several costs and most importantly, one relating to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification,Cheap Jerseys Online, were excluded.“What SCG was effectively telling AHI is that if you wish to have LEED certification then you must pay for it…And Mr Brassington said yes.”Ram said,Wholesale Jerseys Authentic, too, that not only is there “cutting corners on statutory deductions, changing design specifications and eco-features, we allow the contractor to dictate to us about quality certification.“Having been duped by SCG, the Chinese contractor,NFL Jerseys Outlet, on the importation of labour – although Guyana had the final say in work permits – the next danger for us is who is looking after the interest of AHI in ensuring that we do not have a similar experience in the quality of the material used or in supervising the execution of the work by the contractor.”Ram reports that he was recently regaled with the post modern technology and material being employed on the cut-priceChartered Accountant Christopher Ramcontract. He surmised that “maybe that explains why none of the local consulting engineering firms was retained by AHI to look after its interest.”On the matter of the project supervision, Ram said that an experienced engineer expressed to him considerable doubts on the ability of AHI to put together a competent team to deal with the international contractor, SCG.“According to the engineer, AHI has stepped well out of its league, even though the internet made it easy to research the experiences of other countries using Chinese contractors with Chinese labour.”Ram said that the engineer suggested that persons who negotiate building works contracts should have an understanding of building components, building codes and current construction practices.“Of course, the contractor on a project of this size should have a Quality Manager whose primary responsibility is to meet Quality Assurance/Quality specifications…But contractors are mainly interested in maximising profits which comes from reducing costs, and so AHI must satisfy itself and specify the steps embedded in the process to ensure that quality assurance and quality control matches the agreed plans and specifications.”On the matter of the price of the project as against the quality of the works done, Ram said that AHI would have needed to ensure, even before construction started, that it had in place a team to manage the construction supervision, including the ‘Engineer’ who will sign off on the final product and approve design changes.According to Ram, “It is true that we negotiated on price…The question now is whether AHI knows whether it has compromised on quality.”
