By Lara Pickford-Gordon Wednesday, March 17 2010

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Construction council: Members of the Joint Consultative Council, from left, Emile Elias, Arthur Bowles, Afra Raymond and Winston Riley during a media ...

Afra Raymond, president of the Institute of Surveyors of TT, yesterday said one of the first things new Udecott chairman Jearlean John should do in keeping with her stated intention to act with transparency and accountability was to publish the Udecott accounts for 2007-2009.

“We are calling as a matter of urgency for the publication of Udecott’s audited accounts without any further delay,” Raymond said during a media conference called by the Joint Consultative Council for the Construction Industry at The Professional Centre, Fitzblackman Drive, Woodbrook.

He said it was not be credible or professional for a State enterprise which is often called a top performer to be working without its accounts being published. Raymond questioned the extent of Udecott’s debt and if the company was insolvent.

He said the Government has been boasting about 26,000 homes being constructed and John should publish a list of where these homes were located. Raymond said the information was misleading.

NH International (Caribbean) Ltd executive chairman Emile Elias yesterday said he was “sorry” John accepted the post of Udecott chairman because her hands were already full with the Housing Development Corpora-tion, where she is the managing director. Elias said he respected John and the work she did with housing, an issue which touched the lives of people.

“Making this Government look good at Udecott is mission impossible. She really has taken on something she does not quite understand especially when the deputy chairman (Krishna Bahadoorsingh) thinks that 15 minutes is all she needs to understand what is happening at Udecott,” he said.

He criticised the remaining Udecott board members for “spewing foolishness” and acting like they had no responsibility for what was happening including approving a contract to a company which was three weeks old.

“They must be a minority of four people who think nothing is wrong. I don’t think Patrick Manning thinks nothing is wrong anymore. He may not say it aloud,” Elias said.

In an interview about her role at Udecott, John said her mandate thus far was to “stabilise the organisation”. She said the mandate could expand when she was officially appointed.

John will serve as chairman and not as executive chairman like her predecessor Calder Hart, who resigned on March 5 amid a criminal probe of Udecott. The Government has not named a chief executive officer (CEO).