By Joseph Allen
The completion of the new Christ Church Secondary School is months behind schedule as a novel method for constructions appears to have hit a snag.
The project with just over a month left for its scheduled full completion is only at its foundational stage and the contractor, BM Property Investment Inc, is said to be responsible for the construction of the sub-structure for the project.
Sources close to the project are complaining about the length of time the company is taking to finish that aspect of the project. It was also noted by a source that due to the delay in the works being carried out by BM Property Investment Inc, the entire timeline of the project is off course.
Explanations have reportedly been given for the delays at this stage, but they have not been accepted since the contractor was told upfront about the scope of the project and what was required.
With this delay, the deadline of February 2024 is unattainable and it also remains unclear what the Ministry of Education plans to do.
The new Christ Church Secondary School contracts were signed back in June 2023, for $688.1 million with a duration of seven months. Contracts were signed by seven companies with each company being responsible for different lots of the project. This was the first time such a method was being attempted rather than awarding the entire contract to one contractor. Ironically, this was done to speed up the delivery of the school.
Lot 1 contract was awarded to BM Property Investment Inc. for the Construction of a Sub-Structure, at a cost of $303,595,000, while Lot 2, the Super-Structure contract was awarded to Zeco Group of Services Inc at a cost of $295,137,706.
Additionally, Lot 3, Installation of Electrical Infrastructure & Fixtures contract was awarded to N. Balgobin & Sons Contracting Service & Electrical Supplies for the sum of $41,938,500 and Lot 4, Installation of Plumbing Infrastructure and Fixtures contract was awarded also to BM Property Investment Inc. for $17,600,000
Meanwhile, Lot 5, the Installation of Air Conditioning Infrastructure and Units contract was awarded to A. Ograsein & Sons General Contracting at a sum of $10,745,000.
Lot 6, the Installation of Fire Prevention Units contract was also awarded to A. Ograsein & Sons General Contracting at a price of $6,759,000.
Lastly, Lot 7, the Masonry and Finishing Work contract was awarded to Pantheon Construction Inc. at a sum of $12,385,800.
The new school which is being rebuilt at Middle and Camp streets, Georgetown, was intended to have different phases of works being carried out simultaneously by various contractors.
The MoE took this new approach as it was deemed to be the quickest way to rebuild the school which was destroyed by suspected arson in January of this year.
“The expertise that we received from the engineers, I am not an engineer, suggested that we could get this school in a shorter time, if we had, instead of one contractor doing everything, if we divided it up into components, and lots, which is what we did,” Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, explained at the signing of the contracts.
The short period for the construction of the school will in no way hinder the quality of work in the construction process. The work will be combined and carried out simultaneously without safety, strength, or standards being compromised, the minister added back then.
“As a result of the simultaneous approach, yes we are confident that based on how we have set out the work plan… one of the things we would pay keen attention to is the foundation and the superstructure of the building and that will not be compromised [as] we will ensure that safety and strength of that part is up to standard,” the Ministry’s Special Projects Officer, Ron Eastman, also noted.
According to the minister, the procurement process, which commenced in March, followed the competitive process as stipulated in Guyana’s Procurement Act.
Before the signing, Manickchand emphasised that they would be holding the contractors to their specified timelines as the students continue to be inconvenienced and are forced to travel greater distances to receive an education.
Currently, students and teachers of Christ Church Secondary are being housed at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) at Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown and with the delay, the stay is expected to be longer.
It was on January 12 when a fire of unknown origin gutted the Christ Church Secondary School, just days after combustion in a lab had to be quelled.
