"LAX contractor finds $17.2 million in add-ons to project"

Thursday, December 6, 2007

LAX contractor finds $17.2 million in add-ons to project 
By Art Marroquin
The Torrance (CA) Daily Breeze


Airport commissioners agreed Monday to spend $17.2 million to clear up a
series of "unforeseen" problems discovered by construction crews working on
the modernization of the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.

The commission voted 4-1 to use the funds to fix 41 separate problems,
including fuel-contaminated soil, old underground storm drains and faulty
utility lines, said Dave Shuter, deputy executive director of Los Angeles
World Airports, the city agency that oversees the airport.
  
"These changes cover unforeseen conditions, aging infrastructure that needs
to be repaired in connection with the project," Shuter told the airport
commission.

Commissioner Sylvia Reyes-Patsaouras cast the lone dissenting vote on the
cleanup project because she believed that the Costa Mesa-based construction
consortium of Clark/McCarthy failed to properly study the Bradley terminal
before construction began.

Commissioners Alan Rothenberg and Valeria Velasco were absent from the
meeting.

"I am going to vote no because I think this is a misrepresentation,"
Reyes-Patsaouras said. "I don't see this as unforeseen conditions. I see
this as errors and omissions. I hope there are no more of these
modifications coming along."

Airport Commissioner Walter Zifkin said he supports the work because LAWA
will recoup the funds from airlines using the Bradley terminal at Los
Angeles International Airport.

"I think it's important that the airlines have reviewed this," Zifkin said.
"They support it and they ultimately expect to pay for it."

In other action, the airport commission agreed to spend $1.4 million to make
a series of improvements to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection screening
area in the Bradley terminal.

Plans call for a new ceiling, lights, plumbing, heating and air conditioning
units, and fire alarms and sprinklers, according to an airport report.

Plans also call for renovating the information booth and customs office area
in the departures lobby in the Bradley terminal, relocating secondary
inspection booths and installing new power connections.

Separately, the airport commission Monday also signed off on a $6.1 million
plan to install new lights over the next three years at LAX and city-owned
airports in Ontario, Palmdale and Van Nuys.

The panel agreed to purchase the electrical materials and supplies from
Associated of Los Angeles, All Phase Electric Co., Metropolitan Electrical
Distributors, One Source Distributors and Royal Wholesale Electric. 


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