St8ment Investment Inc, the company responsible for the construction of the Primary School at Bamia/Amelia’s Ward, Linden has stalled works for almost two months now and is yet to provide the Regional Administration with reasons for the move.
Last week, Stabroek News reported that construction works had been stalled on the school and that the Regional Administration was concerned that the project will not be completed within its deadline. St8ment In-vestment had promised Stabroek News a response to the report but they have not relayed any information.
Additional calls to Rawle Ferguson, one of the company’s principals, went unanswered yesterday. He previously told Stabroek News that he is “unaware” of the delay.
A team from the Regional Administration of Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice) visited the site earlier this week and works remain stalled. According to information reaching this publication, there were no workers on site and no sign of recent activity.
When Regional Chair Deron Adams was contacted, yesterday, he directed this newspaper’s queries to Regional Executive Officer (REO) Dwight John, noting that the REO would be in a better position to provide answers. However, Adams said that the Regional Administration remains concerned that the project has been stalled with no explanation from either the consultant or the contractor.
REO John said that he will not be answering any questions relating to the project and directed all queries to Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Nigel Dharamlall. Efforts to contact Dharamlall were also unsuccessful.
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 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.
The project is being undertaken under the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Deve-lopment 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.
Prior to the commencement of the project, the Regional Administration met with both St8ment Investment and E&A Consultants and it was agreed that monthly meetings would be conducted to appraise the parties of the progress. However, those meetings have not been happening and the RDC is unsure as to the reasons behind that move.
“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,” Regional Chair Adams had said during a previous interview.
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.
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.
