Rawle Ferguson, one of the principals of St8ment Investment Inc, the company responsible for the construction of the $346million Primary School at Bamia/ Amelia’s Ward, Linden has denied that they have stalled construction works on the building but admitted to having “scaled down work.”
“The project has been scaled down but I don’t know anything about work being stalled. We have been working but scaled down. The project is running and we will wrap up in a few weeks,” Ferguson said during a brief comment to the Stabroek News.
The Regional Administration of Region Ten has been contending that construction work has been stalled for almost two months now and that both the contractor and consultant have not proffered a reason behind the move. 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.
However, yesterday, Ferguson maintained that works are ongoing and will be back to normal once “payments are sorted out”. Additionally, he accused the Stabroek News of attempting to “stir up troubles” as well as “racially motivated reporting.”
St8ment Investment Inc is a company formed by Ferguson and Kerwin Bollers of Hits and Jams Entertainment along with Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major and Kashif Muhammed of the Kashif and Shanghai football tournament just formed a few months prior to bidding for the project and has no proven construction background. The foursome has been closely linked to the PPP/C government and since the award of the contract, last year, there have been concerns about the company’s capacity to execute 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.
Yesterday, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Nigel Dharamlall told Stabroek News that he is aware of works being behind schedule but cannot give a reason for that.
“I am aware that the works are behind schedule but I cannot say if it is stalled or anything. I have been informed that the works are not going as planned and so I asked that there be a technical meeting between the contractors,” Dharamlall noted.
He said that the meeting is scheduled for Monday between the engineers, contractors and consultants along with other officials. He added that after the meeting then the Ministry would be in a position to accurately say what exactly is going on with the project.
“We cannot preempt the outcome of the meeting and so we have to wait until Monday and then we would be in a better position to say what is going on with the project,” he lamented.
When asked whether there are issues with payment, the Minister said that no such information was communicated to him.
The Administration of Region Ten remains concerned that the project would not be completed on time.
