Board Publications
- Annual
Report - 2001
1.0 The Board of
Engineering of Trinidad and Tobago was established by Act No. 34 of 1985
– “to regulate the practice of Engineering in accordance with the
Act”. Top
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The Fourth Board served in office up to
the eleventh month of 2001. The Members of that Board were Eng.
Hollis Charles - Chairman, Eng. Fenrick R. De Four - Registrar, Eng.
Ronald Nurse – Treasurer, Eng. Prof. Winston Mellowes, Eng. Hilton
Charles, Eng. Jerry Medford with Mrs. Margaret Edwards and Mr. Hewitt
Nicholson as members representing the public interest.
The Fifth Board was appointed on November
30, 2001. The members are Eng. Hollis Charles, Eng. Fenrick R. De
Four, Eng. Prof. Winston Mellowes, Eng. Jerry Medford, Eng. Imtiaz
Hosein, Eng. Rossini Castro, Mr. Hewitt Nicholson and Mrs. Margaret
Edwards again representing the public interest.
The BOETT is one of the few regulatory
professional bodies which has members representing the public interest.
The Board has found the contributions of these members to be invaluable
to its deliberations and work. The Board therefore wishes to place on
record its deep appreciation of those contributions and to publicly
thank the present members Mrs. Edwards and Mr. Nicholson for their
support.
The number of active Registered Engineers
on roll at the end of the November, 2001 is six hundred and ninety-three
(693). This is an increase of thirty-eight (38) from December,
2000. During 2001 sixty-two applications were received of which
fifty-five were approved. Three are still pending subject to
clarifications. During the year Registered Engineers Clive Chu
Cheong and Vernon Carrington passed away. Clive Chu Cheong was a
pioneer of local practice in civil engineering in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Board places on record its recognition of his contributions and
extends sincere condolences to his family and to the family of Vernon
Carrington.
The Accounts of the Board have been
audited up to the year 2000 and show that the Capital Reserve had
declined from $174,742.00 in 1999 to $158,794.00. This decline was
the result of the continuing deficits in income against expenditure.
Since the Board does not receive any outside subventions toward the cost
of its operations, an increase of fees was necessary. An increase
of TT $50.00 in annual dues was instituted from January 2001 and the
desired effect of a balance between income and expenditure achieved
during 2001.
The Board places on record its sincere
appreciation to Eng. Ronald Nurse for his contribution as Treasurer of
the Fourth Board.
4.0
Secretariat Top
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The administrative operations of the
Board are carried out in its Secretariat under the supervision of the
Registrar. At this time the post of the Registrar is an unpaid
position. The Board wishes to express its gratitude to Eng.
Fenrick De Four for undertaking what increasingly is a series of onerous
tasks. The Board also thanks the Secretariat’s Administrative
Assistant Mrs. Jameela Bynoe who is the voice, face and hands of the
Board of Engineering of Trinidad and Tobago.
During the course of the year the Board
continued its work on Codes and Standards for engineering. This
work is a substantial activity for the Board and particularly the
Registrar - Eng. De Four. The work on Codes and Standards is
carried out mainly with the Bureau of Standards but on occasion the
Board works with other institutions including the Faculty of Engineering
of the University of the West Indies, the Interim National Physical
Planning Commission (INPPC), APETT etc.
In the past the Board has expressed its
appreciation of the individuals who contribute to our work in this very
important area. This year we again record our debt for the considerable
technical resources made available to the Board and ultimately our
Country by these individuals and organizations.
During the year the year the Board with
the support of the Bureau of Standards and the Interim National Physical
Planning Commission continued to work on the preparation, dissemination
and monitoring of Codes and Standards for the construction industry.
Three (3) National Codes are at Stage I
completion and have been posted on the Board’s website with an
invitation for public comment. They are:-
(a) Small Building Code: covering
standards of construction for residential and small commercial buildings
of three hundred square metres or less.
(b) Physical Planning Standards:
being an update of the existing Town and Country Planning 1989 document
‘Guide to Developers’.
(c) Electrical Wiring Code: being
an update of the T&T Bureau of Standards document #171 for
residential and commercial building wiring.
Other Code documents receiving attention
are :-
(a) National Plumbing Code.
(b) Guidelines for design and
construction of Water and Wastewater Systems.
(c) CUBiC 2000 (C2M): being an
update of the structural requirement for design and construction in the
Caribbean having regard to hurricane and earthquake conditions.
(d) General Conditions of Contract:
being the determination of a set of Conditions for Construction Work
that would be recommended as a National Standard for common use.
6.0
Amendments to Act No. 34 of 1985 Top
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Since last year the Board had prepared a
list of amendments to the Act for discussion with the Office of the
Attorney-General. With developments particularly in the area of
engineering education, new areas for the rethinking of the provisions of
the Act have arisen. In particular the developments in respect of
training programs which create the categories of sub professionals such
as Technologists and Senior Technicians.
The Board has established a Committee to
review the original proposals for amending the Act and to recommend on
any additional changes which may be necessary at this time.
The Board’s website at www.boett.org
was inaugurated last year and during 2001 was continually updated with
information of relevance to engineering in Trinidad and Tobago.
The list of all Registered Engineers in T&T is maintained on the
website.
Major items on the Site during the year
included:-
(a) Information on current design,
approval and construction activities associated with the Churchill
Roosevelt Highway and Uriah Butler Highway Interchange
(b) The FIDIC document on a new
‘General Conditions for Construction of Contract’
(c) The Small Building Code
(d) CUBiC 2000
8.0
Continuing Professional Development
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Following the death of Eng. Samuel
Naranjit last year, it has taken considerable effort to get the CPD
Programme re-started. However the joint Board/APETT Committee
which manages the Programme has been reconstituted under the
Chairmanship of Eng. Myron Chin. The Programme is expected to be
fully functioning in 2002.
The Board is required by its Act to
investigate every complaint made against a Registered
Engineer. The Act requires that the
Board establishes a Disciplinary Committee to investigate and advise the
Board on the validity or otherwise of such complaint. The Board
then decides on what action is to be taken.
The Board handled two disciplinary
matters during 2001. In one case the Disciplinary Committee has reported
and the Board is to decide on an appropriate action. In the other matter
the Committee is still investigating.
10.0
Bursary Top
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The Board has awarded a Bursary at the
Faculty of Engineering of the University of the West
Indies and has also renewed its appeal to all Registered Engineers to
contribute to a Bursaries Fund to be able to offer Bursaries on a
continual basis. Initial contributions of TT$250.00 from
each Registered Engineer have been requested by the Chairman. The
Board’s Bursaries Fund is intended to be an umbrella fund to which
organizations or persons who do not wish to support an individual award,
can make a contribution and thereby promote engineering education in
Trinidad and Tobago.
As a member of the Group of Professional
Organizations of Trinidad and Tobago, the Board has been actively
involved in plans to expand the Professional Centre at Fitz Blackman
Drive, Port of Spain.
The Board’s Registrar – Eng. Fenrick
De Four, chairs the Centr’s Expansion Committee. The expansion
of the Centre is expected to begin in 2002 and the Board proposes to
purchase accommodation for its operations in the expanded Centre.
12.0
Caribbean Council of Engineering Organizations (CCEO)
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The Board during 2001 participated in the
efforts of the CCEO to promote a common legislative framework for the
Registration of Engineers in the Caribbean.
This is in the context of the Caricom
Single Market and Economy and its proposals for the free movement of
professionals within the Caribbean Community. The Board continued its
participation in advisory groups to the regional and national
negotiations on Trade In Services, in respect of WTO, FTAA, Caricom and
bilateral Agreements. The provisions within these Agreements will
have implications for the conditions under which Registered Engineers
will compete in the offer of services both within the borders of
Trinidad and Tobago and overseas.
The Board has also joined the CCEO in
advising the University of the West Indies on a proposal for the
establishment of a new undergraduate degree in engineering. In
this regard the Board also met with the Dean and Heads of Departments of
the Faculty when presentations were made to the Board on the proposals
for the new degree.
The Board continues to make contributions
in matters where the engineering competence within the Board’s
membership can be put to the assistance of the Society. The
following are some of these activities :-
13.1
Carnival in Port of Spain
The Board together with the National Band
Leaders Association has developed a route for Carnival bands in Port of
Spain, which avoids the congestion experienced at the Savannah and
creates multiple viewing points for the parade. This proposal has
been put to the National Carnival Commission (NCC). The
Board has also written to the NCC and the Transport Commissioner
advising on the use of safety shields along the length of trucks, which
are used in Carnival parades to ensure that members of the public are
not in danger of falling under the trucks into the path of the wheels.
13.2
Terminal Building at Piarco Airport
The Board as a member of the Joint
Consultative Council for the Construction Industry (JCC) has been
participating in the on-going discussions in respect of this public
facility.
13.3 The
Role of Engineer and Architect as Project Managers on Buildings Projects
Arising out of concerns raised by the
Trinidad and Tobago Institute of Architects the Board has been assisting
the JCC and the Association of Consulting Engineers of Trinidad and
Tobago (ACETT) with addressing issues arising from the emergence of
project management as a discrete area of professional expertise.
13.4
Amendments to the Central Tenders Board Act
Amendments to this legislation have been
outstanding for quite some time and the Board is attempting to use its
influence to have the discussions expedited and concluded. This
legislation is of great importance to all engineering industry
practitioners, hence the Board’s efforts in that regard.
13.5
Technical Vocational Training and National Accreditation
The Board continued working with COSTAATT
and the National Training Agency on efforts to bring rationalization to
the somewhat confused situation which exists in respect of technical
vocational training in the Country. In this regard the Board is
also participating in the Interim National Accreditation Commission with
the objective of bringing into being a single Agency for the
accreditation of training programmes and organizations in Trinidad and
Tobago.
Among the areas which will be the focus
of the Board during 2002 are: -
(1) working with the office of the
Attorney-General on the completion of the amendments to the Act.
(2) making the CPD Programme
fully operational.
(3) progress in respect of the new
undergraduate degree at the University of the West Indies - Faculty of
Engineering, in the light of the implications for the accreditation of
the UWI degree and the consequent registration of engineers.
(4) expanding the Bursaries Fund to
include contributions from firms and organizations engaged in the use
engineering expertise.
(5) working with the CCEO, the Caricom
Secretariat and Private Sector interests to bring into being, provisions
for the free movement of professionals under the Caricom Single Market
and Economy.
(6) continuing to look for
opportunities to increase the group benefits of registration for
engineers as well as to ensure that the Trinidad and Tobago national
community enjoys the highest standards of engineering competence from
the profession.
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