Contractors for the extension of the Novar Primary and Secondary Schools and the Mahaicony Secondary School are behinds schedule and were warned that their contracts could be terminated.
The warning was delivered on December 27 by Minister in the Ministry of Local Government, Norman Whittaker, according to the Government Information Agency
GINA said that Whittaker, Region Five Chairman Bindrabhan Bisnauith and Regional Executive Officer Ashford Ambdekar inspected work at the Novar and Mahaicony schools and at the Fairfield Community Centre.
At Novar, $15.67M was expended for an extension which is expected to accommodate 180 students. This contract was awarded to SA Associates and was expected to be finished in six months. 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 to be completed before the new school term in January, but the contractors are not on schedule and GINA said that from all reports the works would not be completed within the given timeframe.
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,” Whittaker lamented, according to GINA.
In the case of Novar, Whittaker said that the contractor has continued to postpone the completion date but has promised that the work will be completed by January 6.
Whittaker said that the region has completed 100% of its other programmes and commended the regional administration for monitoring those works and ensuring that they were successful.
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, GINA said.
