FEMA reviews Fletcher performance on disaster project

Thursday 14th April 2011

Fletcher Construction - the huge New Zealand company given a billion-dollar job of overseeing reconstruction efforts in Canterbury - has run into problems with US officials over another disaster project in American Samoa.

The US Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) suspended work for nearly two weeks on the contract it gave Fletcher Construction last November to rebuild 33 American Samoan homes destroyed in the 2009 earthquake and tsunami there.

Construction was expected to begin in late November and the homes should be completed in 10 months, Fema said when it announced the contract.

Fema officials raised concerns about construction problems but today allowed the US$7 million (NZ$8.85m) project to resume construction because the contractor had made progress to address those problems, an agency spokesman said.

Samoa News reported this week Fema ordered work to halt on April 1 because of problems including risky construction techniques, a lack of subcontractor oversight and a failure to provide monthly schedule updates.

Fema spokesman John Hamill said the agency gave Fletcher 304 days to build 32 homes, but none of the homes have yet been built.

Fletcher senior official Dean Hudson told the newspaper that the company had no comment.

Officials will re-assess progress on corrective measures next week, Hamill said.

Fema spent nearly US$4 million in the first phase of the building, which involved the construction of just eight homes, which were unaffected by construction problems raised in the current phase, Hamill said.

Two families waiting for their homes to be built declined to comment on the delay, but said they were eager to move into the new houses. Those who lost their houses during the tsunami were staying with relatives and friends or in Fema tents.

Fletcher Construction American Samoa is a part of the New Zealand company and has worked in the territory since 1979. After the September 29 tsunami and earthquake disaster, Fletcher Construction helped temporarily repair a bridge to Leone Village that was washed away. That temporary "fix" is still being used by villagers.

In New Zealand, Auckland-based Fletcher was been awarded a contract to repair 50,000 homes damaged in the September 4, Christchurch quake, work it then estimated to be worth $1.2 billion.

Hudson, Fletcher's American Samoa manager for the past 20 years, told SamoaNews.com that one of the arguments made for Fletcher to win the Christchurch contract was its experience in rebuilding after natural disasters through the Pacific.

"It was Fletcher's expertise at responding to natural disasters in the Pacific Islands which was one of the points put forward in our proposal," said Hudson.

NZPA

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