Sitting of tuesday 9th november 2010

(No. 1B/563)

Mr E. Guimbeau (First Member for Curepipe & Midlands) asked the Minister of Youth and Sports whether, in regard to the New George V stadium, he will state if –
(a) the drain network thereat has recently been upgraded and if so, indicate -
(i) by whom, and
(ii) the cost thereof
(b) the football ground has been recovered by new top soil and grass planted and, if so, indicate -
(i) by whom, and
(ii) the cost thereof, and
(c) he is aware of the severe persisting water accumulation thereat after rainfalls and, if so, give the reasons therefor.

Mr Ritoo: Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the contract for the rehabilitation and upgrading of the New George V Stadium was awarded to Active Décor Co. Ltd and the works done so far, that is, the construction of drains and planting of grass have been carried out by that company only.

The cost of the drain network is around Rs1 m. while that of the turf is around Rs3 m.

Regarding part (c) of the question, I am aware of the persisting accumulation of water on the turf. In that respect, my Ministry has requested the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, National Development Unit, Land Transport and Shipping to cause an inspection of the drain network. An exercise was carried out last week and it was found that 7 of the 10 drains were not functioning properly.

The contractor has been instructed to open these drains for inspection and remedial action. This exercise is expected to be completed by the end of this week and the top dressing as well of levelling of the turf by end of November.

Mr Guimbeau: Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, first of all, I would like to refer to PQ No. B/297 of 13 July 2010, where I asked the Minister to table all the contracts awarded for the renovation of the stadium. Was the needful done, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir?

Mr Ritoo: All the information required was tabled.

Mr Guimbeau: M. le président, je voudrais savoir s’il y a des retards sur les travaux and if so, has there been any penalty charged to the contractors and if he can state how many months has there been for the delay?

Mr Ritoo: The contract was awarded to Active Décor on 01 September 2009 and it has not yet been completed. It was expected to be completed by the end of December 2009 with six months maintenance period that is up to the world cup June 2010. But the delay was mainly due to the inclement weather. The soil is muddy and of clay type which retains lots of water. I have got a report from the Meteorological services. Hence, the contractor was not in a position to work the soil with heavy machinery. After every rainfall the contractor has to wait three or four days before resuming work because of the nature of the soil which takes times to dry out. The work was therefore delayed considerably.

Mr Guimbeau: Who is going to pay for the penalties on the extension of time?

Mr Ritoo: Since work is not yet completed, we have not paid the contractor. The money is still being retained until the final completion.

Mr Quirin: Je me souviens effectivement de la réponse du ministre il y a plus de trois ou quatre mois de cela par rapport à une question concernant le stade George V et je viens d’entendre exactement la même réponse. Donc ce que je suis en train de déduire, les travaux auraient du être terminés, si je comprends bien, en décembre 2009. Il y a eu ensuite un prolongement en juin 2010. On est aujourd’hui le 09 novembre 2010 et on est toujours dans la même situation. Il n’y a eu aucune amélioration. Est-ce que le ministre peut nous dire si les travaux seront terminés dans les mois à venir ou dans une année?

Mr Ritoo: As I have told you, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, due to inclement weather the work was considerably delayed and, during the rainy season, my Ministry in collaboration with the Chairman of the CNNF, Mr Vincent Rogers, seek the advice of the Mr André How Chong of Réunion Island who is an expert in turffing. We effected two site visits free of charge in March and October 2010. Mr Chong and his technicians recommended a modification of the drainage system. The implementation of this modification further delayed the completion of the project. A testing of the drains carried out has shown that pipes in seven of the drains have collapsed causing clogging and thus preventing evacuation of water. The inner report submitted by Mr André Chong stated that the remaining works can be carried out by the actual contractor of the Active Décor. So, we hope that this work – actually Active Décor is doing the rehabilitation of the lay field and we hope that in three months it should be okay.

Mr Bhagwan: Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are talking of Stade George V which is a national monument and this stadium has been redone some years back. Does the Minister, at least, have a look on the structures? C’est dans un état de décrépitude. Can we know from the Minister who is responsible? We are not talking about modification; we are talking of the stadium itself. Tous les panneaux, the paints, the roof, sont dans un état de decrépitude. Is the Minister agreeable to ask an independent surveyor to conduct a survey sur l’état de ce stade, at least, to do emergency works? This is our national stadium.

Mr Ritoo: Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I have stated, we have just completed the painting works. The cleaning works have been completed very recently and the lighting facilities have now been provided and we are waiting, at least, for the playfield to be completed so that we can go ahead with the inauguration and the renaming of the stadium as it was stated in one of my statements in this august assembly.

Mr Guimbeau: I would like to ask the hon. Minister who is Fineway Sandling Work Ltd et, deuxièmement, M. le président, suite a l’évaluation faite par les officiers du ministère, il a été constaté que la quasi-totalité système du drain sur le terrain est inefficace et que, très probablement, il faudrait revoir ou refaire tout le système. So, I would like to ask the hon. Minister, after the visit of his official where they noticed that all the drain system is not working, what he proposes to do. His own officers have stated that the whole network has to be done again, so we would like to know from the hon. Minister what he is going to do.

Mr Ritoo: There is an officer-in-charge who is supervising the work at George V stadium and he submits regular progress report as regards works that are being carried out. As I stated in one of my replies, a testing of the drains has shown that pipes in seven of the drains have collapsed, causing clogging and thus preventing evacuation of water, The expert, Mr André Chong, has stated that the remaining works can be carried out by Active Décor. So, the contractor is doing the work and we are actually receiving regular reports from them.