Repairs to Kato Secondary School to rack up $140M bill – auditing company

Remedial works on the Kato Secondary School building in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), could rack up a bill amounting in excess of 0 million, according to representatives of the Rodrigues Architects Limited auditing company.
The remedial cost, along with several structural defects, was highlighted during a media-site visit to the school on Wednesday. A part from Rodrigues Architects Limited, representatives from the Ministries of Public Infrastructure and Education were also present.
During a tour of the school, Managing Director of the auditing company, Albert Rodrigues, explained that the school had countless

structural defects, which were highlighted in both the draft and final report of the project submitted to the Public Infrastructure Ministry by the company. Among the issues highlighted in the report was the prioritising of cost effectiveness over professional competence and the use of inadequately qualified consultants for the project.
At the school, numerous construction defects were pinpointed by architect Davendra Doodnauth of Rodrigues Architects. These included: bad timber, exposed electrical outlets, cracking stairways, and exposed steel.
“To the naked eye, you can tell that something is wrong. You don’t need any level of expertise to see that,” Doodnauth explained. At one stage, he pointed to a gaping hole along one of the corridors, the result of the use of poor materials.
“How could any self-respecting contractor accept work like this?” Rodrigues questioned, while pointing to another defect. He further emphasised, “The Government has paid for a building that is functional and safe, so there can’t be any compromise of standards or rushing.”
Both Doodnauth and Rodrigues posited that the project was flawed from its design phase, a fact that was evident in the incorrect orientation of the facility. According to Doodnauth, the classrooms were incorrectly placed away from the windward side and would ultimately lead to hot, uncomfortable classrooms.
Additionally, it was highlighted that the dining room and kitchen could not accommodate the school’s projected number of students. Safety concerns were also noted since the school lacked fencing. This was especially concerning, since the school would be housing at least 250 students in its dormitories.
Furthermore, it was stressed that poor workmanship, along with the use of inferior material, contributed largely to the identified defects. Rodrigues added that while the issues would have been brought to the attention of the contractor and consultants for the project, there was yet to be any adequate response.

Meanwhile, residents of the village shared that while there had been an agreement to use both local workers and local content; this agreement had been reneged on by the contractor. While the community was initially hired to cut the timber at the start of the project at the price of $80/BM, this contract was taken away from them and given to someone else at the rate of $30/BM.
It was also highlighted that local workers were initially promised a wage of $7000 per day, but were only paid $2500 per day, of which $1200 was deducted each day for meals.
Rodrigues went short of deeming the present work as fraud. “I think this is misrepresentation. I don’t want to call it fraud; I’ll leave that to the legal persons…However, I think there are serious issues about negligence and breach of contract. There are specifications and, if you deviate from those, you are deviating from the contract,” he stated. He added that there was clear evidence of “corners being cut”.
He said too that, based upon its current state, it is extremely unadvisable that the school should be opened for the September 2016 school term. He opined that it would take at least six months to execute remedial works, which would amount to at least $140 million. He shared that this figure could increase following the conduct of an even more detailed assessment of the project.
Meanwhile, Kato’s Toshao, Clifton Pereira, explained that the residents were anxious for the new school’s opening since the situation at the Paramakatoi Secondary School has become untenable due to overcrowding. He added that students were being forced to attend schools as far away as Sand Creek, Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo).
The contract for the project was awarded in late 2012 to Kares Engineering Inc and work commenced in 2013, with a completion date set for April 2015. However, the project was delayed on two other occasions.