Auditor General (AG) Deodat Sharma has advised the Ministry of Education to terminate a more than $350 million contract for the construction of the St Rose’s High School after the contractor failed to complete the work more than a year after the award.
In his 2019 report, which covers the year 2018, and which was seen by Sunday Stabroek, Sharma stated that the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board had awarded a contract in the sum of $352.710 million for construction of the school along Church street but though the contractor received an advance payment of $52.906 million followed by one interim payment of $5.186 million, no work has been completed.
“At the time of reporting the Advance Payment was not recovered [and] based on an examination of the contract and a physical verification of completed works, measurements and calculations [it] was discovered that…the site was abandoned and overrun with bushes. No equipment or materials were on site, while the only personnel from the contractor present was a security guard,” the report said.
