HDC Boss Quits, Rowley cleared

HDC boss quits
Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday
By Andre Bagoo Tuesday, March 17 2009

MARGARET CHOW, the acting managing director of the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and one of the authors of an HDC report which cleared former housing minister Dr Keith Rowley of any wrongdoing in the Cleaver Heights project, resigned yesterday, HDC officials have confirmed.

Chow’s resignation comes in the wake of a Cabinet decision, taken last week, to sack the board of the HDC with the exception of its chairman Andrew Mc Intosh.

Chow was the co-author of a report into the Cleaver Heights project which was filed in the Uff Commission of Inquiry on January 21. The report, which she prepared alongside Reynold Patrick, an HDC project manager, effectively cleared Rowley of allegations of a missing $10 million made by Prime Minister Patrick Manning by attributing discrepancies in the contract sum to “two errors” made by HDC staff.

However, Chow’s line minister, Housing Minister Emily Gaynor Dick-Forde later attacked Chow’s report, saying it contained, “apparent inconsistent and inaccurate information.”

In her own written submission filed on January 27, the minister revealed details of an impasse she had with Chow over the drafting of the report. Dick-Forde said she had to telephone, write and have conversations with Chow because her report did not include certain details.

Newsday has learnt that Chow was yesterday due to file her own submission in response to the minister’s claims. The tentative deadline for the filing of all legal submissions by all parties involved in the inquiry was yesterday.

Sources also said the contractor for the Cleaver Heights project, NH (Caribbean) International (NHIC) filed a submission yesterday defending its own conduct in the matter.

A statement, dated March 13, and signed by NHIC managing director John Connon, points out that at all times the HDC and NHIC had agreed the contract price for the project was the original contract price and not an erroneous sum of $143 million which was $10 million more than the original price.

Chow was made HDC’s acting managing director in July 2008. She joined the National Housing Authority (the HDC’s precursor) in 2003 as change manager and spearheaded the transformation of the NHA to the HDC.

From 2006, she served as divisional manager of the HDC estate management division until her acting appointment.

Comments

[Trin]

I don't know much about this...do you have more info?

[www.hdc.com]

Why isn't anyone taking about them big shots who visiting the Housing units at night with contractors and selecting units and paying $30 000 - $35 000.00 thousand dollars under the table at HDC... Without going through the process?