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$30m down the drain
School being built on St Ann caves shelvedBY ALICIA DUNKLEY Observer staff reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, October 30, 2008
A school which was being built on undetected caves at Discovery Bay in St Ann, has had to be shelved, flushing $30 million down the drain, a parliamentary committee was told yesterday.
The bustling town of Discovery Bay on the island's north coast, is well known for its underground Green Grotto Caves, which were used as a popular escape route by runaway slaves. The caves are now a popular tourist attraction.
But surveyors apparently failed to notice caves on the property bought for the school and the $30 million was already spent on the project before it was discovered that the land was unsuitable.
Officials yesterday raised the spectre of new land having to be purchased to relocate the high school.
"...When the construction started, we found some caves and quite a few of them had water in it," director of technical services in the education ministry, Errol Golding informed a meeting of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee of Parliament.
"The consultants we employed, I must confess, didn't do a good job so they did not identify the caves that were there, also the geotech survey only indicated rocks, they did not indicate that we had these caves. We brought in the underground water authority people and they instructed that we should not continue construction there," a sombre-looking Golding said.
The $333,605,878.30 contract, which was announced in 2007 by Donald Buchanan, then minister of information and development under the People's National Party administration, was awarded to SWC Woodwork and Construction Limited.
Yesterday, Othneil Lawrence, Jamaica Labour Party member of parliament for North West St Ann and member of the parliamentary committee, questioned "the capability of the engineers that did the survey". Lawrence also complained that initial concerns about the location were ignored and expressed doubt that proper testing was done.
"They started the school early this year and it has been stopped. Until now we have not gotten any word regarding (the fate of) the school. I am concerned, the constituents are concerned and I know there have got to be some overruns with that because I understand that they have spent roughly $30 million in the initial stage and I need to know what exactly is going to happen.," Lawrence declared.
Golding, who was part of a team of officials appearing before the committee, admitted that the consultants employed to the project had fallen down.
He said efforts were now being made to secure 10 acres of land from properties owned by the Kaiser Bauxite company and he conceded that if new land was purchased, even if the same design was used, the first contract had to be considered terminated.
"It would be a totally new contract and I don't know how much of the money we can recover based on what the land (at Discovery Bay) will be sold for. And, incidentally, when the land is sold I don't think the ministry will get back the money; it will go into the Consolidated Fund," he suggested.
Furthermore, he said there was no penalty clause in the consultant's contract for matters of this nature.
The 1,200-student capacity school was to be built under the School Expansion Programme and the project was expected to begin in August 2007 and should have lasted approximately 16 months.
Committee chairman, Dr Wykeham McNeill who also expressed concern about the Sheffield All-Age School in his constituency for which the design works were changed three weeks into construction, said the committee was concerned about the poor preparatory work that was being done in the construction of schools.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...THE_DRAIN_.asp
School being built on St Ann caves shelvedBY ALICIA DUNKLEY Observer staff reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, October 30, 2008
A school which was being built on undetected caves at Discovery Bay in St Ann, has had to be shelved, flushing $30 million down the drain, a parliamentary committee was told yesterday.
The bustling town of Discovery Bay on the island's north coast, is well known for its underground Green Grotto Caves, which were used as a popular escape route by runaway slaves. The caves are now a popular tourist attraction.
But surveyors apparently failed to notice caves on the property bought for the school and the $30 million was already spent on the project before it was discovered that the land was unsuitable.
Officials yesterday raised the spectre of new land having to be purchased to relocate the high school.
"...When the construction started, we found some caves and quite a few of them had water in it," director of technical services in the education ministry, Errol Golding informed a meeting of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee of Parliament.
"The consultants we employed, I must confess, didn't do a good job so they did not identify the caves that were there, also the geotech survey only indicated rocks, they did not indicate that we had these caves. We brought in the underground water authority people and they instructed that we should not continue construction there," a sombre-looking Golding said.
The $333,605,878.30 contract, which was announced in 2007 by Donald Buchanan, then minister of information and development under the People's National Party administration, was awarded to SWC Woodwork and Construction Limited.
Yesterday, Othneil Lawrence, Jamaica Labour Party member of parliament for North West St Ann and member of the parliamentary committee, questioned "the capability of the engineers that did the survey". Lawrence also complained that initial concerns about the location were ignored and expressed doubt that proper testing was done.
"They started the school early this year and it has been stopped. Until now we have not gotten any word regarding (the fate of) the school. I am concerned, the constituents are concerned and I know there have got to be some overruns with that because I understand that they have spent roughly $30 million in the initial stage and I need to know what exactly is going to happen.," Lawrence declared.
Golding, who was part of a team of officials appearing before the committee, admitted that the consultants employed to the project had fallen down.
He said efforts were now being made to secure 10 acres of land from properties owned by the Kaiser Bauxite company and he conceded that if new land was purchased, even if the same design was used, the first contract had to be considered terminated.
"It would be a totally new contract and I don't know how much of the money we can recover based on what the land (at Discovery Bay) will be sold for. And, incidentally, when the land is sold I don't think the ministry will get back the money; it will go into the Consolidated Fund," he suggested.
Furthermore, he said there was no penalty clause in the consultant's contract for matters of this nature.
The 1,200-student capacity school was to be built under the School Expansion Programme and the project was expected to begin in August 2007 and should have lasted approximately 16 months.
Committee chairman, Dr Wykeham McNeill who also expressed concern about the Sheffield All-Age School in his constituency for which the design works were changed three weeks into construction, said the committee was concerned about the poor preparatory work that was being done in the construction of schools.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...THE_DRAIN_.asp
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