Ministry denies further delays over school projects
(CNS): Despite the fact that there appears to be no work going on at either of the construction sites for the government’s two new high schools and the remaining subcontractor has left the job, the Education Ministry denied that the projects were subject to any further delays on Wednesday. Re-confirming that Caribbean Mechanical (High Schools 2008) Limited (CMHSL) were leaving the work sites, the ministry claimed that the relationship between the Cayman Islands Government (CIG) and the sub-contractor had always been an interim one. In a second statement in a week on the school projects, the ministry again stated that the new construction management team was expected to mobilise shortly.
The ministry said the departure of subcontractor CMHSL was part of the anticipated transition process of both projects by the new construction management team.
"The Cayman Islands Government (CIG) and Caribbean Mechanical (High Schools 2008) Limited (CMHSL) have mutually agreed to terminate their interim relationship, which was forged in the immediate aftermath of the general contractor’s departure," the ministry stated. ‘It is anticipated that the new construction management team will shortly mobilise. Work at the project sites will increase to full capacity under their supervision."
Following the departure of Tom Jones International from the school projects in October 2009 as a result of s dispute between it and government, CMHSL, a sub contractor which has been one of the leading work groups on the site since its inception, returned to the sites at the beginning of 2010 to maintain the integrity of the work already done.
At that time government explained it had assumed responsibility for the CMHSL contracts to ensure the continuation of certain work at the project sites, pending the appointment of a new construction management team.
"Both parties anticipated that this interim arrangement would be terminated at an appropriate time, and this is exactly what the parties have now agreed to do," the ministry said in the official statement.
Category: Headline News
Make sure they can be retro fitted to be prisons…..since our 2/3 illiteracy rate will only give us criminals from the public school. The Ministry should be ashamed!!! 60% of our children cannot read beyond a sixth grade level….a TRUE fact from "Ask the Experts" Cayman 27…go ahead get a FOI report and start to cry, our children have been failed by 15 years of bad administration and politicians.
Building schools to house lazy administrators, favoured principals, and bad apple teachers is NOT the answer. Accountability is!!!
You CANNOT BLAME the parents….they see decent report cards and think their kids are doing fine. They find out all too late when UCCI admissions tells them that their beloved high school graduate has a reading level of a 5th grader…..who they gonna blame, one teacher?
The Ministry needs to be taken to task…..EDUCATION and LITERACY need to be the focus, not new walls and fat contracts to buddies.
I’m a parent and I actually read with my child so I have a clear understanding of his abilities.
He was also provided a standardized test that compared him to the rest of the children on the island. He happened to score "above High School" in vocabulary — he was 6.5 years old at the time!
So I guess spending time with your children and assisting in the educational process are important, who would have thought!?
These structures will become the new remand centres we so desperately need.
In the words of Lucky Dube (RIP) ‘All they build are the prisons, prisons…….’
I will bet that the school job sites remain vacant for at least six months if not longer. Nothing the minister of Education has said since the election has proved to be true.
I’d be worried about the work that has already been done. Something like this might cause cement to wind up in the pipes, electrical wires to be cut, equipment/parts to go missing and general vandalism.
I hope they at least have some security guarding the premises!
"Both parties anticipated that this interim arrangement would be terminated at an appropriate time, and this is exactly what the parties have now agreed to do," the ministry said in the official statement
Or alternatively:
"We have no money to pay them so they’ve told us to sling our hook" the ministry implied in the official statement
Another school year gone then
…the ministry again stated that the new construction management team was expected to mobilise "shortly" …
Soon come.
……………and we are meant to believe them? How can we believe anything they say, considering their track record? I say: Yeah right! Sure!
In the mean time the CIG’s desktop PC controlled Constructa-Bots continue to forge ahead…
you can never have delays when you have the typical ‘soon come’ attitude from the government….