By Andre Bagoo Wednesday, August 20 2008

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FOR CHARITY: The Rotary Club of Port-of-Spain yesterday launched its charity event titled "On the Avenue- An Evening of Haute Cuisine" during a lunche...

A HIGH-ranking official of the Ministry of Works and Transport yesterday called for the start- date of construction projects in the country to be staggered in order to deal with the “serious challenges” now facing the construction industry.

Rossini Castro, director of the Project Implementation Unit of the Highways Division of the ministry, also urged local contractors to “form strategic alliances” to cope with the current construction boom and to develop a culture of health and safety practices.

Speaking at the inaugural RBTT forum held at the Hyatt Regency yesterday, Castro acknowledged that spiraling costs of construction materials, shortages of supplies of aggregate and of skilled labour currently posed problems across the industry.

“During this heavy construction period we have already begun to witness long delays and in some instances the shortage of essential building materials such as concrete, cement, blocks, asphalt and road base materials,” Castro said.

“This demand and supply situation has caused project delays and high material prices. A possible solution would be to stagger the start of projects,” he said.

The Ministry of Works is the line ministry in charge of the National Infrastructure Development Company (NIDCO) which is in charge of several mega projects, including a $25 billion road plan and a proposed rapid rail project, the first phase of which is budgeted at $440 billion.

But while he recommended the ‘staggering of projects’, he also warned that local contractors risk losing competitiveness from foreign contractors.

“My own advice is that for very large projects it may be prudent for local contractors to form strategic alliances to become more competitive,” Castro said.