DIPCON Engineering Services Ltd has lost its final bid to claim an additional $11.6 million from the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (UDeCOTT) for a housing development project completed nearly two decades ago.

In a judgment delivered yesterday, the Privy Council upheld the decisions of the local courts by finding that UDeCOTT was not contractually obliged to pay the disputed sum due to a lack of proper authorisation and board approval.

The dispute stemmed from infrastructural works carried out by Dipcon for UDeCOTT at the Oropune Gardens Phase II project, under a contract signed in April 2004 that incorporated international FIDIC conditions. While Dipcon completed its work in July 2006, the final accounting proved contentious, with Dipcon asserting claims for increased material and labour costs.