Construction of the new One Mile Primary School building is progressing satisfactorily, according to a supervisor on the 18-month project.
Work started in February and in spite of some interruptions due to periods of heavy rainfall, construction has progressed ahead of schedule.
It is anticipated that laying of blocks, casting and the roof will be completed within the next two months. Payroll Clerk on the project, Alieshaw Barker, said 33 persons are employed on the project including labourers, skilled and semi-skilled workers.
Government has allocated $171 million for the construction of a new One Mile Primary School building following the destruction of the previous building by fire during a month-long electricity protest in Linden in July-August 2012.
P D Contracting Services with the lowest bid of $151 million won the contract to construct the replacement building in close to the remains of the previous one.
Representatives of the Region Ten Democratic Council had spearheaded a self-help effort to rebuild the new school but the effort was plagued with inadequate funding compounded by several entities failing to honour pledges of cash donation.
When the Ministry of Education announced that the government would rebuild the school, it was stated that construction would be done in an another area of the school compound and would not include any work on the previous structure because it was feared that the strength of the pillars and beams of the old structure would have been compromised by the fire.
However, a committee from the Regional Democratic Council is still pursuing the idea of rebuilding on the remains of the old school building. Barker, who was part of the region’s rebuilding committee, has pointed out that the makeshift payroll office of the current construction project is located in one of the classrooms that had been rebuilt by self-help.
