Construction work on the Primary School at Bamia/Amelia’s Ward, Linden has been stalled for over a month, according to Regional Chairman Deron Adams.
However, one of the directors of the controversial construction company, St8ment Investment Inc, responsible for the works, has said he is “unaware” of the delay.
St8ment Investment Inc, a company whose principals have been closely linked to the PPP/C government, was controversially awarded the $346 million contract for the construction of the school last year. The company, whose principals are Rawle Ferguson and Kerwin Bollers of Hits and Jams Entertainment along with Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major and Kashif Muhammed of the Kashif and Shanghai football tournament, was just formed a few months prior to bidding for the project and has no proven construction background.
According to information reaching Sunday Stabroek, construction on the school has been stalled for over six weeks and workers were not remunerated the promised amounts. Additionally, no reason was given for the stalling of works.
Sunday Stabroek reached out to Rawle Ferguson, one of the principals of St8ment but he said that they are unaware of works being stalled. He said that he would have to “make some calls” and promised to provide an update by Monday.
During a brief telephone interview with this publication yesterday, Regional Chairman Adams explained that the issue has been raised at the statutory meeting of the Regional Democratic Council. He said that the Regional Executive Officer, Dwight John, has been tasked with investigating the issue as well as meeting with the contractors and consultants on the project.
The project is being undertaken under the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and in July of last year, the bids were opened. Four companies – Bulkan Timber Works Inc ($349,595,065), St8ment Investment Inc ($346,327,748), Orin’s Supreme Enterprise ($348,726,772) and A Nazir & Son Contracting & General Supplies ($340,549,671) – tendered for the project.
St8ment, with the second-lowest bid, received the contract which was signed by the principals of the company and REO John.
The project was expected to last for 20 months and is intended to benefit almost 800 students. Additionally, a one-year defects liability period, after the completion of works, is catered for.
“We heard of same as well that the project is behind schedule. At the statutory meeting, it came up for discussion. The Council did promise to visit the site because of the very concerns we raised in the initial state, we are seeing it become a reality where the contractor has not been executing works within the timeline and we are concerned that once you see this happening it’s an indicator that all is not well.
“The REO was instructed by the council to do an investigation to find out what is happening. I think the company has received about $50 million already. But when you look at the payments that we have received as against to work on the ground, it’s a vast difference and so it’s a concern for us,” Adams related.
The Regional Chair added that the school is much needed for the community and as such, they are keeping a close eye on its progress or lack thereof. He said that they are disappointed that the contractors seem not to be honouring their obligations.
He explained that prior to the commencement of the project, the Regional Administration met with both St8ment Investment and E&A Consultants where it was agreed that monthly meetings would be conducted to appraise the parties of the progress.
“The works have been stalled for over a month now and we have been trying to reach the contractor and consultant. The consultant should have been meeting with the contractor and the RDC. That’s the advice we gave them when we met with them at Council, was let’s meet monthly to set timelines so that we are able to track this project month by month. Those meetings have not been happening and so to give an accurate account as to what has been happening over the past three months, the last quarter, it’s difficult.
“We have the Chairman of the [Regional] Works Committee who is on the ground in the field. We agreed to let us meet monthly in the interest of this developmental project, the school that is being built, those meetings have not been had and so it’s difficult now. No one knows exactly what is happening and that was our concern from day one,” Adams further explained.
He reminded that during the initial stages of the project, the Regional Administration expressed concerns about the award to St8ment since the company had no experience.
“…we were sure back then, as we are now, that if you identify an inexperienced contractor to do a project of this magnitude, of course, you would have these bottlenecks and challenges. Nevertheless, we have to find a way because we want the project. We want the school to be completed in the timeframe but that’s it,” he lamented.
Adams said that he has also written to the REO about the lack of progress on the project.
The letter, dated September 6 and seen by Sunday Stabroek, expressed the Council’s concern and called for greater monitoring.
It said “the Council requests your (REO) urgent provision of the following information at the statutory meeting of the Council on Thursday, September 8th, 2022 and that the consultant provide a representative to attend this meeting to address queries the Council may have on this project. The information requested includes, but is not limited to the following: the consultant’s evaluation of the work progress to date and of whether the project will meet its deadlines for this year; the current financial expenditure on the project as of September 1st, 2022; what are the current challenges being faced on the project; a report of any and all issues of concern that were flagged by the consultant on the project and how they were resolved/addressed.”
The Council is still waiting on the update from both the contractor and consultant.
Following a series of reports by the Stabroek News, last year, Harold Bulkan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bulkan Timber Works Inc, one of the companies that submitted a bid for the project, questioned what exactly the NPTAB is evaluating when considering bids. “St8ment Investment Inc was awarded the contract and I reckon in 20 months the public will judge for themselves if this was the correct decision by the Honourable Minister for Local Government and Community Development. I know the residents of Linden and the surrounding areas will be paying attention to the construction of this school,” Bulkan had written in a letter to the editor of this newspaper.
St8ment was incorporated in March of last year and since taking office, the PPP/C government has appointed the company’s principals Major as Chairman of the Guyana Tourism Authority while Muhammed is Chairman of the National Sports Commission’s board.
Though the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region 10 is listed as the employer in the tender document, RDC Chairman Adams was excluded from the signing of the contract.
Following the announcement of the signing, several questions were raised about the company’s competence to execute a project of this nature along with its experience in the construction industry since its principals are from sport and entertainment.
Bollers, one of the principals, had taken to their radio station to address the questions raised in the local press about the company. He admitted that the company was only formed a few months prior to the bid but said that they are being advised by geotechnical engineer Charles Ceres on all ventures. He pointed to a 2020 memorandum of understanding signed between the government and HJ Entertainment for the construction of a 400-room Sheraton Hotel and explained that Ceres is also working with them on that project.
“Yes, it is a new company but we have done a lot of background on putting together a very competent team started with Mr Ceres here and we have a very competent team in terms of executing this project [the construction of the Bamia Primary School],” Bollers had said at the time.
“We are here to stay. We’re now into construction for persons who are asking. Yes, we’ve expanded our portfolios,” he added.
