Construction work on the long-delayed Bamia Primary School is yet to be completed and according to officials at the Region 10 Regional Democratic Council (RDC), an estimated December 31 completion is now foreseen.
On Wednesday, Chair-person of the Public Works Committee at the Region 10 RDC Eleze Benjamin-Hall visited the work site and related to Stabroek News (SN) that despite the contractor’s report that the project is at 90% completion, a visual inspection shows it being at 80%. She added that internal works are still not yet complete and corrective works still need to be done in some areas.
“The Bamia school, according to the Contrac-tor’s representative, is having a percentage in the 90s. However, I think from the optics the percentage may be in the late 80s. Point to note, all of the internal works started but none is completed. There are visible corrective works that [have] to be done on the ceiling of some of the classrooms on the lower flat. There was some modification done to the washroom cells because they were too small,” she said.
At the time of Benjamin-Hall’s visit plumbing, electrical, tiling, plastering, and painting works were ongoing. She further noted that preparation was being done to cast a stairway and ramp on the lower flat. Additionally, she said that some work had been done on the gymnasium and corrective works were also done on walls that had cracked.
Region 10 Chairman Deron Adams also related that a total of 20 workers were seen on site, indicating a skeleton workforce at play.
“No external work except for the septic tanks had started. They were given July month end to complete but from observation and what I was told, that is highly impossible. I would estimate December 31 as really a completion date to hand over,” Benjamin-Hall said.
On April 27 this year SN reported that the contractor, St8ment Investment Inc., had missed yet another deadline for completion. Initially, the original deadline, July 2023, was extended to November 2023 then to April 1 of this year. At the time when SN reported, the project was still 75% complete and Adams had expressed frustration with the delay, calling for the project to be expedited as soon as possible.
The contractor had requested an extension and was awaiting approval from the Ministry of Finance.
The project has been criticized for its deficiencies. The government has threatened to apply liquidated damages and terminate contracts that are overdue, but it is unclear if this will happen in this case.
There had also been major controversy over the award of the contract to St8ment Investment Inc, whose principals are Rawle Ferguson and Kerwin Bollers of Hits and Jams Entertainment as well as Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major and Kashif Muhammed of the Kashif and Shanghai football tournament. They had never undertaken a construction project of this type before.
St8ment, with the second-lowest bid, received the contract in November of 2021. It was signed by the principals of the company and Regional Executive Officer, Dwight John. The project was expected to last for 20 months.
