Pan Am officials grilled over stadium delays

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Some harsh words today at Hamilton city hall for the builder of the new Pan Am stadium and the government agency overseeing the project.

Representatives of the building consortium and Infrastructure Ontario say the city can take possession of the building May 8. But Jerry Davis, the city’s general manager of public works says there’s a lot still to be done including resolving issues such as 700 seats that have obstructed views. There are room sizes that are incorrect and the furniture for the club rooms won’t be delivered until June at the earliest.

CHCH News spoke to reps from the building consortium and infrastructure ontario.

Q: Are you frustrated perhaps embarrassed yourself that you didn’t put in some sort of a financial penalty if the contractor didn’t meet certain deadlines?
Bruce Gray, Infrastructure Ontario: “I think financial penalty is a tool that some contracts use. Frankly our contracts use a different structure in that we make the major payment when the facility is completed. So in a sense there’s penalties involved on a daily basis and Dave (Kirkland, from the Ontario Sports Solutions consortium) can confirm this.”

“They have to continue to build without a payment from the owners for this facility until such time as they reach completion and in and of itself it becomes, when you’re late, a penalty.”

Q: Do you think taxpayers should use your company again in future provincial or federal or municipal projects in light of all the missed deadlines?
David Kirkland, Ontario Sports Solutions: “Of course they should. We’ve had some scheduling issues on this particular stadium, but that is unfortunate, but we believe it was still a strong builder in the province of Ontario.”

Also today, a visibly frustrated chair of the local Pan Am committee councillor Lloyd Ferguson asked council and staff to draft a letter to send it to the chair of Infrastructure Ontario to
copy the the minister demanding that they give us a firm date when this stadium will be complete.