TriniTuner.com | Latest Event:
Moderator: 3ne2nr Mods
Is the new National Academy for the Performing Arts in Port of Spain like Godzilla trampling over the city or a beautiful gazelle poised gracefully above us?
The views of citizens are mixed.
Some stand in awe of it, while others dismiss it as a ghastly building, unfit for the architectural ambience of the capital city.
What we are told, however, is that Prime Minister Patrick Manning thinks it is more beautiful than the Sydney opera house in Australia.
Director and president of Overseas Business of the Shanghai Construction Group (SCG) Tong Ji Sheng, in an interview at his Shanghai headquarters last Wednesday, said Manning told him this.
Manning is apparently not the only one who is so enamoured.
Someone else described the Academy ’like a pearl in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean area’, Sheng said.
This ’pearl’’ is apparently so precious to the Shanghai Construction Group that Sheng is visiting Trinidad and Tobago this weekend to inspect the Academy, which he described as a ’complicated project... using the most advanced technology’.
More Chinese workers were brought in by the SCG to finish the Academy on time for tomorrow’s handing over ceremony by the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago Ltd (UDeCOTT).
The grand opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) is also set to take place at the Academy on November 27.
Sheng said work was being done on the electrical and gas supply as well as the plaza last week, and the mega project was nearing an end.
The construction period was shortened by six months and Sheng said he was confident the end cost would be quite low in the context of the local construction market.
A cost of $358 million was given by former culture minister Joan Yuille-Williams in response to a question by Opposition MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh in Parliament in 2007, but the final figure is not yet revealed.
The Academy is not the only building outside China built by the SCG that is causing a stir.
Sheng boasted that the SCG recently completed the Chinese Embassy in the United States, which is being marvelled at by many senior US officials.
This too was done at a low cost in a short time, he said.
In Shanghai, the SCG logo is plastered everywhere. The group is now building the Shanghai Tower, the tallest building in the world, in China at 630 metres; it just constructed the riveting red China pavilion for Expo 2010 in Shanghai; has built bridges over rivers and the sea and airport terminals.
Trinidad and Tobago’s relationship with the SCG started ten years ago-the first five an exploratory period of getting to know and understand the local construc- tion market.
It is, however, undeniably a somewhat strained relationship, with local contractors crying unfairness and lack of transparency in the awarding of contracts, an outcry so audible that an enquiry is taking place into UDeCOTT and the construction sector.
This has not fazed the SCG and it has no plans to exit the Trinidad and Tobago market.
Sheng has described the SCG as the most influential construction company in Trinidad and Tobago today.
’With our good quality, quick speed and low cost, we are competitive. Our success may contribute to the good image of China construction companies in Trinidad and Tobago,’ he added.
There are at least two more Chinese construction companies that are in charge of building projects in Trinidad and Tobago.
According to Sheng, the SCG has observed that Trinidad and Tobago has two 20-year development plans and since this country has a big influence in the Caribbean area, ’we hope to explore the neighbouring construction market’ and to ’turn our company into a local company based in Trinidad and Tobago’.
The company also plans to include local labourers and overcome the big problem of how to better employ local resources, such as engineers, in their projects here as well as offer contracts to good construction companies.
In the last five years, SCG has also built the Prime Minister’s residence and diplomatic centre, refurbished the old Piarco airport terminal in time for the Fifth Summit of the Americas last April, and is currently building the Ministry of Education Tower.
Asked whether he can guarantee the safety of all these buildings, Sheng said confidently that if a problem occurs ’you can put me in jail in Trinidad and Tobago’.
He cautioned, though, that the buildings should be maintained every three to five years, ’just as we should wash and iron our clothes’.
If there is no maintenance, he said the buildings won’t collapse, but would look ’miserable’.
Sheng hopes the SCG’s efforts in Trinidad and Tobago will better contribute to the country’s economic and social development and that citizens will not only see the bad side but the good image set by the Chinese group.
Features
The 429,093-square-foot Academy features the following:
- A 1,500-seat performance hall;
- Two practice halls;
- Teaching rooms;
- State-of-the-art lighting and sound features;
- Stages designed to showcase pannists and other artistes;
- A hotel;
- Landscaped surroundings, including seating areas, water features and greenery;
- Parking facilities.
AllTrac wrote:Such a majestic beauty, musicians now have a home, I am so proud to see this accomplishment, well done Udecott and Calder hart, money well spent Min of Culture, this would definitely help us all, it was finished on time and no over drafts, it stuck to the budget and within the quote. I feel so proud to see it, anyone else get to check it out?
This is one time I give the PNM administration big ups, they are on the right track. Anyone has pics?
or please tell me your entire paragraph is a perfect example of Sarcasm!
evo-STI-k wrote:AllTrac wrote:Such a majestic beauty, musicians now have a home, I am so proud to see this accomplishment, well done Udecott and Calder hart, money well spent Min of Culture, this would definitely help us all, it was finished on time and no over drafts, it stuck to the budget and within the quote. I feel so proud to see it, anyone else get to check it out?
This is one time I give the PNM administration big ups, they are on the right track. Anyone has pics?
That sutucture is a TOTAL waste of taxpayers money, and its a shame that no local input was utilitized !
evo-STI-k wrote: and its a shame that no local input was utilitized !
crazybalhead wrote:Every large project has its detractors. There is always something "better to spend the money on". My take on it is that sometimes the Gov't has to go beyond these naysayers to produce infrastructure of this type. The 2mil flag? WOFT. The Arts Center, lovely and national inspiration.
DTAC wrote:They could have made a building with the exact same functionality for a fraction of the cost. But it alright because everyone in Trinidad is rich.
crossdrilled wrote: There are some cars on the road that cost more than 2 mill.
gunsmoke wrote:only a certain segment of the society would have access
btw, what is the ROI in this project?
Kudos and Applauds go out to those who saw it fit to initiate and see through a centre that would aim to provide an avenue for those who would wish to enjoy an eclectic culture that may may not be readily available live for locals.........
x2floor wrote:gunsmoke wrote:only a certain segment of the society would have access
btw, what is the ROI in this project?
once they have the following criteria then?
- PNM Membership Card
- Look, Speak and Smell like a GUNTA
- Not educated but know a thing or two about local, regional and international African music and associated instruments
- Own a compact Japanese roll-on roll-off car namely Sunny N16, B15, Altis, Lancer, Civic equipped with RICE, alot of ICE, CRIMS, illegal blue, green and red lights, fake leather interiors and lack of tint.
well GUNTAS are now officially HD like Machel.
****i went last night to see the place and the water have plastic bottles and empty chicken and chips boxes floating around, they walking all over the just planted plants and other decorative shrubs, the parking lot have "ah set of" oil leaks from them people Sunny's and other related nonsense they walking and touching what the cleaners just mop and wipe since in tiles and glass all over. So, like the new Tranquillity Gov't School that was opened 2 months ago these expensive structures will be destroyed by the said GUNTlets and GUNTAS in record time.
Oleander wrote:
It is a beautiful structure.. One that I am proud of.. but it makes Trinidad no better than it was.
It's very bittersweet actually because it enhances our country but creates no real real value.
Return to “Ole talk and more Ole talk”
Users browsing this forum: Google Adsense [Bot], The_Honourable and 51 guests
