Lotus Tower project:

Political interference in lift contract - TRC

More skulduggery of the former regime under the pretext of development has come to light with the cost of the Lotus Tower project on D.R. Wijewardene Mawatha exceeding the initial investment due to the delay and haphazard planning and implementation of the mega sky rise complex.

Sources at the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC), for which the tower is being built, said that the cost of the project will increase by over US$ one million as a result of the delay caused by the consultants in finalising the contracts for the construction of the lifts and escalators. The construction of the Lotus Tower which symbolises purity was due to be completed by June this year. However, due to the delay in finalising agreements with subcontractors for the manufacture and supply of lifts the timeframe was extended to October 2017 by the new Board of the TRC.

The new Board is headed by P.B. Abeykoon and Director General M.M. Zuhair.

“The new management is reviewing the construction and supply of lifts and escalators and steps will be taken to continue work on the project in a transparent and professional manner. There was absolutely no professionalism and transparency in the planning and implementation of the project by the former management,” he said.

He said the new management will be compelled to extend the time for the completion of the project following the request of the Chinese contractors. The request for extension is under consideration. Work on the project which was launched in late 2012. It took over one-and-a-half years since August 2013 to finalise the contracts for the construction of lifts and escalators.

The process of finalising the contract had been going on till January this year.

“Specifications should have been done at the beginning of the project to meet standards. There was total negligence by the consultants. As a result, the lifts had to be fitted to the constructed structure. The lift manufacturers agreed to construct it according to the built structure. Consultants of the University of Moratuwa and the Chinese constructors went ahead with the task according to schedule,” sources said. However, there was a major flaw in finalising the contracts for lifts and escalators. It should have been finalised at least by early 2013 but till October 2014 the consultants had been unable to decide to whom the subcontract should be awarded to.

Subcontractors were decided only by October 2014. The former Board approved the selection of subcontractors for the lifts and informed the contractors to go a head. The documents were signed by five professionals of the University of Moratuwa which included two engineers. Suddenly the award of the subcontract changed in November 2014 with the approach of the Presidential elections in January 2015.

- LF