SHANGHAI, CHINA-President of Overseas Business of the Shanghai Construction Group (SCG) Tong Ji Sheng is assuring that all the projects his company has been hired to do in Trinidad are safe for the next 100 years and more.
He also said that should there be any problems or collapse of the buildings, he was prepared to serve a prison sentence in Trinidad. He said, however, that the buildings would need maintenance every five years so that there would be no problems. Tong spoke during an interview at his sprawling and lavish office in downtown Shanghai yesterday. He also praised executive chairman of the Urban Development Company of T&T (Udecott) Calder Hart for his "clear understanding of construction in Trinidad." Tong said he would travel to Trinidad this weekend to personally inspect the Performing Arts Centre in Port-of-Spain. He said after his inspection of the centre, Prime Minister Patrick Manning would announce the date of the centre's opening. Tong said he would remain in Trinidad for one week. Flanked by top company officials during the interview, Tong said his company would like to work alongside local contractors and architects to foster a better relationship between China and T&T. He said, too, that he had visited Trinidad several times and even met with Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Hart.
About Hart, he said: "I know Calder Hart. I meet him everytime I visit Trinidad. I think he has a good ability to execute construction. He knows how to use the best resources and low cost. For example, when I met him the first time, he did not have confidence in us (SCG), but his concept changed when he visited China and saw the many high-rise towers which Shanghai Construction Group built. Tong said from then on, Hart's confidence in the Shanghai Construction Group increased. He said he was also confident that the general public in T&T would soon be confident in his company's ability. "I can assure you that the projects in Trinidad are safe...They can last more than 100 years," he said. Tong said his company also wanted to get involved in some "project financing" in Trinidad so that in this way his construction group would contribute to the economy in T&T. He said his company, which has built bridges, towers, roads and international buildings, planned to hire local architects and contractors for future projects in T&T. "We don't know how to find Trinidad engineers, but as time passes, there will be Trinidad engineers involved in our work," he said. "We have a long-term development plan in Trinidad and Tobago," he said.
Tong, who spoke through an interpreter, said the construction of the Performing Arts Centre in Port-of-Spain, which he said would be completed six months ahead of time and within cost, was "very complicated." He said before the construction of the centre, his company did not know the standard of T&T's contractors. "So we encountered some problems with the electricity power supply," he said. He said the Chinese normally used a different power supply. "So when we brought our transformers to Trinidad, they did not work, so the power supply was a big problem for us," he said. "This caused a severe setback. We had to rely on China to build another power supply to be comparable with the Trinidad electricity power supply. "We have now become the most significant construction company in Trinidad. With our low cost and quick speed, we are very competent in Trinidad," he added. He also boasted about his company's involvement in the construction of the Prime Minister's official residence and Diplomatic Centre, which, he said, only took eight months. Tong said he had often seen poor-quality work in Trinidad, but in every country there were good and bad. He said he was concerned about the living conditions and wages of Chinese workers in Trinidad, hired by another Chinese contractor from Beijing.
