Below Miami International Airport's South Terminal, miles of conveyor belts zip along, sorting luggage. But insurers will not cover $1 million of potential damage to equipment, because during construction, contractors failed to install a waterproofing barrier alongside the concrete floor to protect against flooding.

Meanwhile, stainless steel columns inside the terminal do not quite rise to the ceiling. And outside, near the rustic terrazzo floor, the large metal columns appear damaged and discolored.

After paying $1.1 billion -- hundreds of millions of dollars over its original budget -- and waiting two extra years for completion, MIA has grappled with 21,892 items that needed to be fixed at its shiny new terminal.

The punch list -- incomplete or unsatisfactory construction items -- is big enough to require several binders that have held more than 1,000 pages detailing problems worth millions of dollars for contractors to fix.

The terminal has been open more than a year, and though the vast majority of punch list items have been fixed, some remain.

Airport officials say none of the punch-list issues have threatened the structural integrity of the building. And most may go unnoticed by the harried traveler rushing through the terminal. Many related to problems such as painting flaws, security cameras installed in the wrong location, hand railings that didn't line up, and misaligned ceiling tiles.

Yet four high-ticket items remain unresolved, among smaller items.

The deadline to complete the repairs -- or for the contractors to provide a credit to the airport -- has been extended time and again, from the end of June to Oct. 31, and now to Dec. 15.

The cost of repairs is borne by the contractors. If they don't fix a problem themselves, they must provide a credit to the airport.

The airport has retained $17.2 million, or 2.51 percent of the contract cost, to cover all the items that remain.

But at the same time, some subcontractors -- including Hensel Phelps Construction -- the main subcontractor under construction manager Parsons-Odebrecht Joint Venture -- have sued construction manager POJV and bonding companies for nearly $100 million in additional payments they say they are due, because they incurred more cost due to delays and extra work performed.

''The reality is you have a contractor that feels [it has] been damaged, so, therefore, they are working at a snail's pace,'' said Miami-Dade Deputy Aviation Director Max Fajardo, referring to Hensel Phelps. ``This is a battle of wills.''

NEW LISTS

Bob Majerus, general counsel for Greeley, Colo.-based Hensel Phelps, counters that the company has, in fact, completed the original ''or true punch list.'' He said the county has continued to issue punch lists, most recently at the end of September.

''It's not a case of Hensel Phelps dragging their feet,'' he said. ``We just keep getting new punch lists.''

Gilberto Neves, chief executive of Odebrecht Construction and spokesman for the joint venture, said in a statement that the punch-list items at the South Terminal reflect ``the magnitude, speed, changes, and complexity of the project. Parsons-Odebrecht Joint Venture continues to work diligently to address the remaining items.''

The South Terminal, which opened in late August 2007, is 98 percent complete. The additional 2 percent includes the punch list. Of the 21,892 punch-list items, the architects have signed off on repairs on 20,983 items or 95.8 percent, leaving 909 items, Fajardo said.

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@