While the Ministry of Education has plans to have the builder for the problem-riddled Kato Secondary School – Kares Engineering – fix the major defects at its own cost for a September opening, the contractor up to yesterday was unaware of this.
Even more complicating was that the Ministry of Public Infrastructure has sole-sourced VIKAB Engineering, which has had troubles of its own supervising construction works here, to submit a tender to oversee Kares’ remedial works.
“We keep hearing that the school has to be fixed and then it will be fixed but no one has said a word to us…so we are just waiting I guess to know what the deal is,” an official of Kares, who asked not to be named, told Stabroek News yesterday.
The school, which was never occupied, was found to be riddled with major defects after construction by Kares Engineering ended in 2015.
Observers have questioned the wisdom of having Kares undertake the remedial work considering the extent of the defects that had been discovered. It has been argued that the performance bond which should have been attached to the project should have been tapped and a new contractor assigned to the task.
At least $144 million would be required to fix the defective Kato Secondary School which was built at a cost of $728.1 million, according to auditing firm Rodrigues Architects Limited who in 2016 said that the building was unsafe for children.
A tour by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure of the school complex, in 2016, had showed evidence of poor construction with cracked and crumbling concrete floors and walls, steel protruding from the walls, unstable safety bars, termite-infested wood, poor installation of equipment in the science lab, and cheap bathroom fixtures, among a number of other defects.
It is unclear now how much is to be spent on the works since a team that visited in February of this year said that it had deteriorated from the first visit.
But the Ministry of Education is adamant that Kares Engineering will fix it and that it not only knows about its obligations but that it has to be done in time for the September term opening.
“Kares Engineering will be doing all the corrective works free of charge…hopefully before the end of this week we will be able to get the work started because we are looking to open for September,” Victor Graham, the Ministry of Education (MoE’s) Chief of Works told Stabroek News yesterday.
This newspaper visited the MoE’s Brickdam office to speak with its new Permanent Secretary Vibert Welch. But his secretary informed that he was in a meeting and pointed the reporter to Minister of Education, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine’s office.
Roopnaraine’s Personal Assistant spoke with the PS and Graham was sent to speak on his behalf as he has knowledge of the project.
Graham said that Kares was informed that it was obligated under the contract to provide corrective works as there was a one-year guarantee against defects at the school. “He knows that he is obligated by the contract. He even wrote a letter saying that he would stand the costs,” Graham said.
The Chief of Works pointed out that while he was not sure at the time of the direct amount to be spent on the corrective works, he knows that Kares will have to stand whatever costs.
The only monies he said MoE would be paying would be for an independent supervisory consultant, which it has asked the Ministry of Public Infrastructure to recommend for the job.
“The only cost the ministry will be bearing would be the independent consultant who will supervise the work, that is the only thing,” he said.
On Tuesday a bid of $29.2M was placed by VIKAB Engineering for supervisory service of the remedial works to be done at the school.
When contacted, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure’s Public Affairs Officer, Desilon Daniels, informed that VIKAB was “sole sourced to supervise the works at Kato” by her ministry for the Ministry of Education.
Asked if the ministry had checked VIKAB’s background for works it has done here, she explained that although the firm was sole sourced and had put in a bid it did not mean that they would be awarded the contract since it has to be evaluated.
The Ministry of Education official echoed this position saying that their evaluators and “others” would have to look at VIKAB’s proposal before a decision is made.
The Trinidad and Tobago-based VIKAB left Guyana in 2012 in the middle of mounting criticisms for supervisory works it did on the Supenaam Stelling in 2010.
The engineers who probed the failure of the docking system at the Supenaam Stelling in 2010 flayed both the supervisor VIKAB Engineering and BK International. They raised concerns about the integrity of the design and unauthorized changes that led to wasteful expenditure.
The report said that the quality of the work done as well as the workmanship associated with the contractor, BK International, reflected very poorly on the supervising capacity of VIKAB Engineering.
VIKAB Engineering in collaboration with Canadian firm SNC Lavalin International designed the project. Both VIKAB and SNC Lavalin had had longstanding association with projects here.
The authors of the report Marcel Gaskin and Bert Carter were of the opinion that for the unapproved and poor works executed, there should be some recovery for the client, the Guyana Government.
They stated: “The client should write [to] VIKAB Engineering Consultants asking them to confirm, or otherwise, that all the design details issued in the tender document drawings along with all the changes reflected in the `as built’ drawings were done by them. If not by them, they should be made to say by whom. The stated party should then be written [to] asking for reasons and corresponding explanations as to the design shortcomings and why the offended party, the client in this case, should not be compensated.”
Stabroek News had visited VIKAB’s Courida Park office back in 2012 and were told by employees there that the company was no longer operating in Guyana.
As such the company never responded to the engineer’s reports on its part on the Stelling’s shoddy works.
Former President Donald Ramotar told Stabroek News this week that the company’s head, a Mr Punawasi, had left but returned and was still operating. It was under his presidency that the Kato School was launched, shortly before the 2015 elections.
Ramotar had toured the school but said that following his visit and word from engineers, he was told that remedial works would have been needed.
VIKAB’s return here was also confirmed by National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) officials who pointed out that the company has also bid for projects over the past year.
This newspaper visited the office again this week and was told that its Company Secretary, Linda Ramotar would return its call but up to yesterday she had not.
