Bamia School contractor misses 4th deadline
Some of the earlier construction on the Bamia Primary School.
– gets another 8 weeks to complete
Kaieteur News – After failing to complete the Bamia Primary School on four occasions, St8ment Investment Inc., the contractor has been given an additional eight weeks to complete the construction of the $346M school in Region 10.
This is according to information provided by Deron Adams, Regional Chairman of Region 10 on Friday.
The construction of the school was scheduled for completion at the end of June after missing several deadlines. Adams told Kaieteur News that a meeting was held earlier in the week with a consultant working with the Regional Administration who is monitoring the project.
According to the Chairman, from information provided by the consultant, the “contractor said he will finish in 6-8 weeks”.
Adams told this publication that should the contractor fail to complete the school, no more extensions will be granted.
“If it’s not finish in that time, liquidation will start from the last due date, which was the end of June 2024,” he added.
Kaieteur News had reported that the school project was expected to be completed in April this year, but at the time, works were only 75 percent completed. St8ment Investment Inc. was formed some six months prior to being handed the contract.
Expressing his dissatisfaction with the slothfulness of the project, Adams said it is hoped that the school could be completed soonest so as to eliminate the challenges students from the Bamia community are facing.
“The issue is that because of the distance, children have to walk from the Bamia area all the way to Amelia’s Ward Primary; it is a challenge for them. The delay of this school is bringing more hardship on them,” he expressed.
Earlier this year, $127 million was approved by the National Assembly to go towards completing the school.
This publication had reported that the contract for the school was signed in November 2021 with St8ment Investment. St8ment Investment Inc. was incorporated in March of 2021 and its 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.
At the time of the signing, the project was expected to be completed within 20 months, that being completed by July 2023.
However, the contractor was unable to finish the project, and was given a new deadline of November 2023 to complete the works. That deadline also passed and the works appeared to have been stalled.
During the Consideration of the 2024 Budget, the Minister of Education was asked by the members of the Opposition to provide a status update on the school, to which she announced that the school will be completed for April 1, 2024.
Kaieteur News was informed that as of June, works were at 88 percent completed.
