Civil disputes surround the construction of the $12.6 million Lautoka City Council aquatic centre, with one civil action already before the court.
This was confirmed by Adish Kumar Narayan, the lawyer of former contractors Ashok Balgovind and Associates and Metalworks Engineering Ltd.
“There’s one action already pending in court and so the matter is sub judice, which means we cannot really comment on the issue at the moment,” he said.
“We cannot make any further comments other than the fact that the matter is in court and we are still awaiting a resolution.
“With the other matter, there are a few more issues that are on hold at the moment pending certain responses.”
A team from this newspaper visited the site yesterday and found the gates to the construction site closed.
The swimming pool has been a longstanding issue of discussion among residents and authorities since its announcement in 2015.
With the total cost of constructing the aquatic centre increased to $12.6 million from $2 million, the facility was supposed to feature an Olympics standard 50 metres with 10 lanes competition pool, a 25-metre right lane warm-up pool and a children’s pool with accompanying amenities.
Located at the Botanical Gardens, the aquatic centre was also planned to include a pavilion to allow the facility to host international swimming competitions.
In 2017, the project experienced its first delays when a new plan to turn the centre into an internationally-accredited facility was announced by Government.
After further delays in subsequent years, the LCC (Lautoka City Council) carried out an independent investigation into the stoppages in 2019 with the results revealed in a press conference by LCC special administrator Debra Sadranu last year.
During a press conference in June, 2020, Ms Sadranu had said she was alarmed by the findings of an investigation into the project carried out in 2019.
“The LCC in consultation with the Ministry of Local Government has actively completed the investigation on the delay in the project,” she said.
“Subsequent to internal investigations and findings by LCC, the council obtained legal advice from a private legal practitioner and an opinion was also sought from the solicitor-general’s office in the matter. The findings have revealed that the contractor for the buildings and associated facilities could not complete its contract by March 18, 2019, citing weather, shortage of materials and delays in some progress payments by LCC as reasons for not being able to complete their contract.
“LCC gave the contractor for the buildings and associated facilities an extension of time by six months with effect from March 19, 2019, to complete the contract.”
