With the new Caricom headquarters weeks away from completion the Building Forum is still concerned about aspects of its design and construction.

A recent release from the Forum indicates that it has just received "documents related to the architectural and structural engineering design" of the building and among the documents are "the structural engineering calculations related to a connection over which major concerns have been expressed in some quarters."

Walter Willis, technical adviser to the Ministry of Public Works had previously asserted that there was no cause for concern about the design and safety of the building.

Nevertheless, Stabroek News understands that the Forum has been pursuing inquiries to determine the countries in which the connections have been used before. A member of the Guyana Association of Professional Engineers expressed concern about the use of the connections in question.

The City Engineer's Department provided the Forum with the documents after it had raised public safety concerns about the building and had sought the intervention of the City Council to look into the issues that were being raised.

The Forum, according to its release, is also reviewing the "specific elements of the Architectural and Structural Engineering Designs related to Public Safety." Concern has also been raised by members of the engineering profession and the end users of the building - the Caricom Secretariat.

During a visit to the Caricom building site, Project Co-ordinator Subhas Joshi reportedly told the media that the building should be completed in another "four to six weeks" and that there had been no adjustments to the design of the building to accommodate an elevator system, in response to observations made by Caricom Secretary-General Edwin Carrington, during an earlier visit to the building site.

Other observations that have been made relate to the arrangements for the evacuation of the staff in case of fire. But those overseeing the construction of the building have said that there are enough exits to ensure that the building is evacuated swiftly and safely.

The Caricom building is being financed in part by a Japanese government grant of 500 million yen ($901.4 M).

The Secretariat building will be part of the complex at Turkeyen which includes a conference centre that is to be built with assistance from the Chinese government. Construction of the building is still months away, although the plans for its design are nearing completion.