(CNS): In a statement regarding the government’s financial situation by the leader of government business last week, McKeeva Bush said claims for overruns of around $17 million were being made on the two new schools being construction in Frank Sound and on the John Gray Campus. Speaking to CNS today, Hunter Jones of Tom Jones International (TJI), the general contractor on both schools, said that the overruns were down to changes made to plans by government and not as a result of running costs.
In Friday’s statement Bush said that the new government had not yet carried out a detailed analysis of the financing relating to the new schools being built, but that the public should be aware that there are claims for cost overruns of $17 million, which he said the new Minister of Education, Rolston Anglin, was addressing.
“Any such potential overruns would exacerbate the challenges created by the fact of building the schools at such a high cost in the first place,” Bush said. “The government will do the best it can to work with the contractors and find solutions to complete these projects in a fiscally prudent manner.”
However, Jones told CNS that $17 million was the worst case scenario but that the costs were down to requests made by the ministry for fundamental changes to the plans. “As with any major development project like this there are often changes made which have to be accommodated,” Jones said, adding that once the changes stopped he would be able to put a cap on the costs giving a final estimated total.
Currently, the contracts total around CI$110 million for both schools, with Clifton Hunter at around $51 million and John Gray around $59 million. CNS has contacted the Ministry of Education for details of the changes, which seem to have increased the cost and we await their response.
Despite the fact that former Education Minister Alden McLaughlin was criticized for the cost of the new schools, a number of local contractors said from the start that the bids were in fact underpriced and expected problems to arise as a result of that.
Steven Hawley, President of the Cayman Contractors Association told CNS last year that low bids should always raise eyebrows. “Profit margins in the construction industry are quite small,” he said. “If a contractor offers a bid that is as little as 10% below the other bidders, that suggests that he plans to complete the project at a loss to himself, which, of course, he would be very unlikely to want to do.”
TJI’s winning bid for the construction of the new John Grey High School was said, by the previous administration, to be some 35% lower than the next bidder .
Ian Pairaudeau, General Manager of McAlpine Limited, said he believed it would be hard for TJI to complete the two schools for the price offered but if it did the government was getting a good deal.
While there have been problems with labour sub-contractors on the site, Jones made it clear that the current claims for increased costs are as a direct result of changes to the plan and have nothing to do with any problems with the estimated costs in the bid which won the firm the contract.
I’m sure that pegleg has suggested an alternative piece of land that Government should purchase for these needed NS projects. Let’s just see who that land belongs to! Yes, that makes perfect common "cents" and we all have a load of those.
It is amazing how the UDP and their donkey followers campaigned during election that the schools could have been built for less and it is now being noted that Tom Jones’ bid was 35% lower that the others and McAlpine who has many years experience inm construction is saying that the price was too low.
This confirms what I have always said Daddy Mac talk stupidness all the time cause he know the donkeys behind him ga believe anything he says. He know that the majority of illeriate people are who he have as supporters (the ones he can tell anything to and they beleive it), hence the reason the GT memeber had to hand out papers on election day with the names and numbers of the UDP members.
So UDP how much less could the schools been built for???
To dearest Pegleg, is Ezzard not proposing to stop the purchase of the land in Northside that the previous government was buying for low cost housing and old folks home?
I am not devious or hateful, just honest.
Obviously pegleg you have a problem with these kind of things!
Rest assured that the UDP aka McKeeva Bush will finish the two high schools.
He never had a problem building the Boatswain Beach that cost over $65 million or to build a dock in West Bay that would have cost $8 Million and be useless in 2 years, so why should he not finish the schools that will only cost $62 million a piece? To stop the schools would be a disaster as not only the student population has increased during the last 5 years but is projected to do the same over the next 5 years. We are also in need of these schools for hurricane shelters. But do not be surprised if there are some changes to come. However we have to stop encouraging one government to demolish what the previous government has started, as is the case that Ezzard is doing in North Side and Mark is doing in Bodden Town, or as our favourite son did with the Dr. Hortor Memorial Hospital in 1993. This is not a very good policy and is part of the reason for our failures.
Say what you want to say about the PPMM, at least the PPM built on what they found, they were not vindictive and egotisitical to destroy what was already there but they improved it and contiued on with a long range plan. Show me any other government in reent times who thought of the people first. It would have been easy to forget the Boatswain Beach and say It can not work, they knew that. Infact the UDP had planned the two high schools and even went as far as to have the ground breaking ceemony for the Beaulah Smith High School. (Some people say that they love to fool West Bayer with this kind of show and tell, but I believe it was a well intended effort) . The PPM had an earth moving exercise there as well and I suspect that school will have another one of these show and tell ceremonies.
Rest assured, please tell us north siders what Ezzard has stopped from the previous government? we havent seen or heard anything like what you are saying, so stop being devious and get your facts straight. We all, independant, ppm and udp put Ezzard in, so you see we at least have common sense, you can benefit from all of them. You all have too much animosity in you, you cant say that the ppm was not vindictive, they had just as much dirt as udp have too and evil is evil, sin is sin, one pot may be blacker than the other but they all boil the same. so cut the crap
Rest assured, if you do your home work and see how much it will cost to purchase and fill in that piece of land. and if you are a real north sider you should be happy that he would try to stop it and save your country some much needed money that useless PPm blew away, the land is a mass of cliff rocks and will take hundreds of thousands of fill to get it ready to build, so why not try and find better value for that type of money. ah my friend common sense again.
Come on Folks take of the Blinders we all know where this is leading after all the UDP Government is famously known for stopping Projects and paying out large sums to break Contracts remember Mr. Millers Hospital need I go further.
and what about the costs incurred for the abandoned beulah smith school ????????????????/
work started… and then stopped…………..
who is going to pay for that waste of our $$$$$$$$$$$$$
‘The teachers could devote more of their time policing the classrooms instead of on their cell phones.‘
I can’t believe I’m reading this but Policing the classrooms??? Are you serious? Is that what we pay teachers for? To police our children…. I hope you don’t have children because If you think that a teacher’s job is to police children then I don’t want to know what type of job you’re doing as a parent!
‘do we seriously want the Government to construct inferior buildings that will collapse and kill our children such as has happened in Haiti, China and other parts of the world recently?’
Who is talking about building inferior schools? So you’re saying that to build a solid building you have to spend $51Mil on it? No!
You are simply a nother brainwashed PPM supporter. These schools were an excessive project pushed through by an arrogant former minister. If he spent $60Mil on improving education facilities island wide then he would have my blessing but for some reason I can’t fathom he wanted to build monuments to himself. And WE, the caymanian people, will pay the price for his arrogance!
After all is said and done, do we seriously want the Government to construct inferior buildings that will collapse and kill our children such as has happened in Haiti, China and other parts of the world recently?
Teak ceilings are beautiful and at 25.00 per running foot is a good price. Maybe this is what the children need to make them responsible. The teachers could devote more of their time policing the classrooms instead of on their cell phones.
I for one do not want the UDP to stop any of the schools.
Having said that it is clear that the UDP must look at the costing of these schools and the possibility of removing some of the costly elements built into the design finishing that could result in major savings to the country in these austere times.
While not surprised, I am disappointed with the fact that the previous Governmetn allowed themselves to be pulled down that dirty road that ALL contractors in this Island deliberately pull their clients into. That is to bid low and then inflate the cost beyond where it should have been in the first place through "extras"
I am not particularely impressed by Mr Hawleys remarks as he heads up what I believe to be the dirtiest association in Cayman. These companied Mr Hawley are your membership, why don’t the Cayman Contractors Association police their own membership. I personally had the pleasure of contacting Mr Hawley because one of his members had ripped me off on a contract because he was in bed with the quantity surveyor who authorised payments causing me to overpay the contractor. After going through the arbitration process perscribed by the Contractors Association, at tremendous expense to myself, and being awarded a judgement that said that the contractor had to pay me back the overpayment, one year later I still have not collected a dime because they claim they are broke. Upon makeing a formal complaint to Mr Hawley and a request that this obviously dishonest contractor be kicked out of the Cayman Contractors Association he proceeded to make every excuse for this member and explain why he could not kick him out.
One thing Mr Hawley is not telling you that the profit margin on these "extras" usually have a 50% markup on them not the 10% he is trying to make you believe is the norm. The contractor always has the excuse that requirements of Building Control or the client is the reason that they have to add these extras, however in the case of a design build contract, ALL requirements of the client and Building Control should be accounted for in the initial design when costed, not hide essential elements from the client to justify their lower bid.
What is shocking is that the former Minister of Education has never fully justified the cost of these monuments! Where is the study linking fancy buildings with a successful education? Who designed these schools? $110Mil on 2 schools! How much did the former minister spend on increasing teachers’ salaries? I’m all for improvements in education but I could think of 1000 better ways to spend that money than on 2 schools for a population of less than 50,000.
Alden may very well have had good intentions when he took on education but his arrogance led him in the wrong direction. He built these schools as a monument to himself. He wanted the people of caymanto drive by these schools and say ‘Wow, look what Alden did!"…. Well I believe he may get his wish, just not in the way he anticipated.
These schools will stand as a reminder to these Islands of the arrogance and incompetence of the PPM.
Fancy buildings don’t educate, that is left to the teachers. You can have the best looking school but without the proper teachers it won’t mean a thing. I would rather send my child to a school in trailers knowing he’s getting access to the best teachers rather than a fancy building that’s just for show. Invest in the teachers and quality of teaching, not the buildings.
Our country need to move on, the UDP, should not now stop the schools even though we all know that it is much too gastly and much more than we can afford BUT can we afford to stop it now? no, (SO UDP) just try to finish them the best you can and move on, no grand standing will ease the pain, however folks, lets not forget who got us in this mess, point the fingers where they should be aimed at, PPM, PISS POOR MANAGEMENT, with poor peoples money. Teak panelling? why common sense tells you that it was in poor judgement,at what expense it will cost to keep up, and as we all know that school kids do not take good care of the facilities, so I too think that at $25.00 a running foot is a waste, but remember what he said only God could stop him from doing what he wanted to do, what he didnt know or understand was that we the people by the knowledge that God provided us with could stop him and we did just that. so UDp, dont stop the schools, just listen to the people, the good people from independants,ppm and udp together we are one.
“Learning is acquiring new knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, preferences or understanding, and may involve synthesizing different types of information.”
Given the definition above, learning can take place just about anywhere. In fact, a significant portion of what we learn is informally (not in the classroom).
I certainly believe that whereas, it may have been a politically favorable move to build new 21st Century schools, for the sake of the children and the future of the country, it was strategically a bad move spending so much in the current global economic crisis; a situation which was forecasted years ago.
21st Century education is far beyond new and expensive buildings, but it is more so a focus on developing 21st century skills. These 21st century skills can be developed with gradual changes in the curriculum, introduction of moderately priced resources to facilitate the learning and enabling an enthusiastic and motivated team of human resources (called teachers). The irony is that many of the physical resources already exist in the schools and cost pretty good money.
The human resources are at the bottom of the list of priorities. 21st Century education is about collaboration – critical thinking – communication – technology (moderate and affordable) – citizenship– career education. The primary element behind effective learning within the formal setting is effective teaching. Teachers teach and not buildings.
What must happen and has been ignored for years is a concerted effort by government to motivate its human resources in education (primarily the teachers). Leadership in education has too long focused on the wrong things (arguing that the students are at the center of the system). I agree that the students are at the center. But the truth is that teachers need to get to that center in order to reach the students. Any effective leader would know that it takes motivation to move people into achieving goals.
Though there are many teachers who are intrinsically motivated, there are those who need a little extrinsic motivation from time to time. And even those who are intrinsically motivated, could be pushed to achieve even greater if they had a little extrinsic motivation.
By the way, where are the 21st CENTURY EXPERTS who motivated the Ministry to undertake all these building projects? Where is Mr. Long, Professor Heppel, Mr. Prekash and the team? We need a new page on the Brighter Futures Website entitled, WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
The only way we can achieve 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION today is through 21ST CENTURY LEADERSHIP which will enable 21ST CENTURY TEACHERS, NOT 21ST CENTURY BUILDINGS.
Talk about a wasteof Money, and NO Fore-sight !
Why does a school need such oppulent Architecture? Will a ‘Floating ceiling’ help our kids to learn more effectivly? Or Teak panneling at more than CI$25.00 per running foot?
If things slow down in our economy, how will we afford the upkeep and maintenance of such things?
Would the money not have been better spent designing environmentally efficient, low maintenance schools, and equipping them to with the best tools to teach and learn, rather than this useless modern architecture?
Who’s ‘cousin’ was responsible for this waste of money?
Just wait until you get the CUC bill every month !
The first mistake that the past government made was to take the lowest bid with the biggest gap between bidders.
The UDP Government should not be ignorant and stop the building of the Clifton Hunter or Upgrades to the John Gray as I believe they are well needed to make our schools safe and better for our kids to obtain their eudcations.
The UDP Government should find out ways on reducing these cost that TJI claims.