-was to have been completed in July, 2023
By Antonio Dey
Completion of the Bamia Primary School has missed another deadline and Region 10 Chairman Deron Adams yesterday again expressed his dissatisfaction at the delay in finishing the building.
After being controversially awarded to entertainers and football promoters in November 2021, the construction was supposed to have been completed in July 2023. This was pushed back to November 2023 and when pressed during the budget debate this year, Minister of Local Government, Sonia Parag said it would be completed on April 1st, 2024. It has still not been completed and is said to be at around 75% complete.
Adams when contacted yesterday said that the project which was heavily criticized for its deficiencies encountered several setbacks as windows and electrical wires were not installed.
He said that as far he knows the Regional Exe-cutive Officer Dwight John had written to the Ministry of Finance requesting an extension on the project and was awaiting approval.
The government has recently said it would be applying liquidated damages and terminating projects that are long overdue. It has said nothing about this contract which was awarded to St8ment Investment Inc whose football and entertainment principals are seen as close to the government.
The Regional Chairman yesterday reiterated the dire need for the school to be completed as soon as possible.
He told Stabroek News that while the government in several cases terminated the contracts of companies which failed to complete works on capital projects on time and resorted to re-tendering as should be the case for the Bamia Primary School, if this is done it could be an additional setback for the community.
Since over 800 children are likely to benefit from the completion of the school, the Regional Chair-man is adamant that the construction which is currently at 75 per cent should be expedited.
“At this point, I am fed up but I am hoping that the project is completed as soon as possible”, he told this newspaper.
Elise Benjamin-Hall, Chairperson of the Public Works Committee at the Regional Democratic Council in Region 10 said that recently when she met with the contractor, work on the project was reputedly at 78 percent which she deemed unsatisfactory as it should have been completed.
“At the beginning of the month (April 1) when we last had the statutory meeting it was at 75 percent and then up to last week I spoke with the contractor it climbed to 78 percent”, she told Stabroek News yesterday.
Stabroek News on February 4th of this year reported that an additional $127 million had been allocated this year for the completion of the controversial school, according to Parag.
Parag’s disclosure came in response to questions posed by APNU+AFC Members of Parliament Devin Sears and Jermaine Figueira on how much more money is being allocated towards the completion of the primary school out of the $375 million budgetary provision for the region’s schools, educational facilities and payment of retention.
She had told the Com-mittee of Supply that the primary school was 65% complete when pressed by Figueira.
When contacted yesterday for an update on the project, Parag told Stabroek News that she recently visited the work site and based on her engagement with the contractors, she urged them to get the project completed as soon as possible.
“I have met with them [the contractors] I said to them that we have to get this project moving”.
On December 4th, 2023, Stabroek News reported that the contractors had missed a second deadline.
The construction project was given a 20-month lifespan in November of 2021 and was expected to be completed in July of 2023.
However, since the contractors were not able to finish the project on time, a new deadline was set based on an explanation and request by the contractor. The new deadline was given as November 16 of 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 formed just a few months before bidding for the project and had no proven construction background.
The project comes under the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and in July of 2021, 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.
Shadow Minister of Public Works David Patterson last year said that public records showed that this company (St8ment Investment Inc) was established only eight months before the award, bringing into question if the company would have met the technical criteria as set out in National Procurement and Tender Administration Board’s Standard Bidding Documents.
St8ment, with the second-lowest bid, was awarded the contract which was signed by the principals of the company and Region 10 Regional Executive Officer REO John.
St8ment Investment Inc could not be contacted yesterday for an update on the project.
