Miltown Malbay housing scheme will be completed

A MILTOWN Malbay social housing scheme, which suffered after the contractor went into liquidation, is set to be completed, councillors heard at September’s meeting of Clare County Council.
Councillor Joe Arkins asked for a report “on any uncompleted contracts, housing or other, where the contractor has gone out of business and what steps are being taken to complete these works”.
In her reply, Bernadette Kinsella, of the housing section, gave details of the unsuccessful scheme.
“Clare County Council had a contract with Multeen Developments Ltd for the construction of a 34-house social housing scheme, Lus na Si, on the Mullagh Road, Miltown Malbay. A requirement of this public works contract was that a performance bond be in place and it was. The contract value was €4,099,752, funded by the Exchequer as part of the Social Housing Investment Programme of the Department of the Environment. On July 30, 2010, Clare County Council was notified that a firm had been appointed to the contractor as provisional liquidator by the courts.”
While initially the liquidator had expressed a preference for completing the scheme, it subsequently opted not to do so.
According to the report bondsman, Quinn Insurance will now nominate a contractor to complete the work. Quinn Insurance are currently providing security patrolling.
Ms Kinsella said it is hoped that things will soon start to move quickly. “Once nominated by the bondsman, accepted by the council and engaged, it is estimated that the completion works will take four to six weeks at maximum. It is anticipated that the completion contractor will be in place to begin completion works by the end of September. The council is conscious of the 34 families who are waiting to be allocated permanent housing. The council must, however, abide by its contractual obligations under the terms of the contract.”
She also said the council is “acutely aware” of the loss and hardship the liquidation had caused to sub-contractors, who had been engaged by the developer, Multeen. She said the council’s contractual relationship had been solely with Multeen.
Council Arkins said the matter is very unfortunate for the families involved. “The whole issue is a tragedy for the 34 families awaiting social housing.”
He also expressed sympathy for the tradesmen affected. He asked if the bond would be sufficient for the remaining works to be carried out and what the timescale for completion was.
Ms Kinsella said that a list of outstanding works is now being completed and a contract is likely to be signed in the next three weeks. She also said that the bond is likely to cover the costs.