MINISTER in the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr Norman Whittaker, accompanied by Region Five Chairman Mr Bindrabhan Bisnauth and Regional Executive Officer (REO) Ashford Ambedkar, on Friday last visited and inspected works ongoing at the Novar Primary and Secondary Schools, Mahaicony Secondary School, and the Fairfield Community Centre, all in Region Five.
At Novar, $15.67M was invested for an extension which is expected to accommodate 180 students. This contract was awarded to S.A. Associates and was expected to be completed during a six-month period. At Mahaicony, a new wing is being built at a cost of $20.97M to accommodate 200 students and that contract was awarded to TB Construction.
Both projects were expected to be completed before the new school term in January, but the contractors are not on schedule and from all reports the works would not be completed within the given time.
Minister Whittaker warned that if the contractors do not deliver in a timely manner, the regional administration will have no alternative but to terminate the contracts. “The region is in favour that the contract be terminated which I think is a fair way to go because the regional administration has been assisting and engaging the contractors to find out the difficulties, but to this end it was discovered that no one will be able to deliver,” Minister Whittaker pointed out.
In the case of Novar, Minister Whittaker said the contractor continued to extend the completion date. However, he has promised that the work will be completed by January 6.
“The slow pace of implementation has been a challenge and with schools scheduled to be opened within another week is a concern for the region, the ministry and the Government at large,” Minister Whittaker added.
He highlighted that the region has completed 100% of its other programmes and commended the regional administration for monitoring those works and ensuring that they are successful.
“We would not wish that those two projects under the education programme take away from the success that they have achieved under the other programmes,” he stated.
Bisnauth, who also expressed disappointment that the works are not yet completed, said that the regional administration made several attempts to assist the contractors, and they were given the assurance that the projects will be completed within the scheduled period. Notwithstanding the two projects, he said that all the other 2013 capital projects were successfully completed.
Meanwhile, Fairfield Community Centre was rehabilitated under the President’s Youth Choice initiative to the tune of $4.5M. The works include three sanitary blocks.
Ambedkar said that particular contractor was delivering and he was satisfied with the work that has been done thus far. Once completed, he said the centre will benefit hundreds of youths in computer training, home economics and sewing classes. Similar programmes are also on stream in two other areas. (GINA)
