The new Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Priya Manickchand, traveled to Linden less than 24 hours after her appointment to warn the contractors at the still to be completed Bamia Primary School that the project must be wrapped up by October or they’ll be replaced.

The $346 million contract which was awarded to St8tment Investment Inc in November 2021 has been plagued by missed deadlines and multiple delays. The project was initially slated for completion in July 2023 and is now more than two years behind its deadline.

‘We are looking at a date in October to begin this, so we are going to ensure that we put a project manager on the premises and run down the things that have to be finished and the contractors have been told either they finish this or come off the project. So we are very clear about what we want for the children who are going to attend here, that is serious business for us,” the Minister stated.

As a result of the delay in the project, the Minister said children in that catchment area are on a shift system attending school, and even when they are on shift, three and four students are forced to sit together. She said the school is badly needed.

“We have just had a meeting with the contractor and their sub-contractors and gone through all the things that need to be done and we are going to be putting someone here fully to make sure that these finishing works will be finished, because for the longest while, I have been reading that they are close to finishing,” Minister Manickchand, stated.

Early last year, the Government provided additional funding of  $127 million to expedite the completion, with a schedule completion date for April 2024, but that date was missed.

The contractors later assured that despite the delays, the new school would be ready for the September 2025 opening. It’s September 2025 and an October date is now being looked at.

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