Construction crumbs

Small contractors are demanding a bigger slice of the construction industry pie.

They charge that preferential treatment and unequal opportunities in Government housing projects were major stumbling blocks for small, black-owned businesses.

“I don’t think the pie is being shared Government-wise. You get a taste . . . but not a big piece of the pie. We would like more,” said chairman of the supervisory/oversight committee of the Barbados Contractors & Artisans Co-operative Society Samantha Bettancourt-Layne.

During a press conference on Thursday in Warrens, St Michael, Bettancourt-Layne said the cooperative had the wherewithal to undertake major projects with over 200 skilled and experienced workers.

“The point is that there is enough resources, manpower, machinery and expertise to go forward. We have land surveyors on board, we have quantity surveyors, there is no issue with human resources. All we need is land and a partnership with the Government [or the] private sector.”

She said it was important for the co-operative to get the support of Government since the largest housing projects rest with the administration.

Honourary member Muhammed Nassar said that while the co-operative has worked for the National Housing Corporation (NHC) and the Home Ownership Providing Energy (HOPE) project, the majority of the work was subcontracted jobs providing only labour. He said this type of work had certain implications for the organisation and it could not access materials in bulk at a discounted price.

The co-operative has been subcontracted to complete ten houses on the HOPE project and so far seven have been finished, with the others to be completed early next year.

Nassar said the group was being ‘unfaired’ as it was operating far below its capacity.

He suggested that with the skill and expertise of the organisation, the co-operative should be getting major contract work to subdivide land and build houses.

“This organisation is too big and has too many intelligent people to be piggybacking on HOPE . . .,” he said.

On Tuesday October 11, during the debate on the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) plan for the fiscal years 2022/23 to 2026/27 in the House of Assembly, Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced that “when it comes to development, the NHC is regrettably too bureaucratic and too incapable of moving with alacrity”. She said that HOPE would therefore deal with housing developments instead, while the NHC would manage the flow of applicants, the public estates and the purchase of new units.

Founder of the co-operative and vice president Michael Harris Jr said that in November 2019, the organisation sent an expression of interest to Government offering a housing solution package.

He said the document outlined that the organisation could produce 250 houses each year on a five-year arrangement. There was no acknowledgement of receipt nor follow-up correspondence, Harris noted.

“The same way HOPE is getting opportunities, to subdivide land or land is being subdivided for them to do housing, give us some acres of land and subdivide and we can bring down the backlog,” he said.

President of the co-operative Troy Williams added that over the past three years, the entity has proven its capabilities and the only thing hindering the organisation from growth was more opportunities.

“The only thing that we basically lack is work. We are expecting a construction boom, we are seeing movement or increased activity in the construction industry. So we are basically asking for that opportunity . . . The bigger players are capitalising and the smaller players are being somewhat pushed aside . . .,” he said.

Bettancourt-Layne also said the co-operative society was also trying to maintain its standards.

She acknowledged that in the past several people complained about incomplete work or shoddy workmanship by small contractors and the organisation was trying to clean up that mess.

As it relates to financing, Bettancourt-Layne said the three-year-old group was now at a juncture where it would be taken seriously by financial institutions regarding loans.

Treasurer Cameron Blackman said the co-operative was surviving on a cash only basis and moved from $140 000 in revenue in its first year to $1.2/$1.4 million to date.

“If we were to have necessary financing from lending institutions we can only take off from there and that is where we are right now,” he said.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb