By IPS Correspondents
PORT OF SPAIN, Mar 7 2002 (IPS)

A politically-charged, internationally-funded school construction effort central to the previous government’s drive to provide universal, free secondary education appears to have been derailed.

The Secondary Education Modernisation Programme had been plagued with controversy from the start, after opponents accused the then administration of then-Prime Minister Basdeo Panday of using the school project for political mileage.

According to Keith Rowley, planning and development minister in the new administration of Prime Minister Patrick Manning, the Inter-American Development Bank, which funded the effort to the tune of 44 million dollars, is recommending closure of the Biche High School after describing it as “not fit for occupancy.”

Then there were the cost overruns. “When one considers that we set out to build 22 schools for 44 million dollars and we end up with 10 costing 57 million dollars, clearly something is wrong, drastically wrong,” Rowley told a luncheon Tuesday of the Joint Consultative Council, an organisation grouping the island’s contractors and builders.

“After 40 years of independence, we should be embarrassed when the multilateral agencies are constrained to chide us for showing a total disregard for the procurement process,” he added.

Adesh Nanan, who was education minister at the time the project was being implemented, told reporters there had been no corruption and the increased cost occurred because the original prices did not take into consideration the construction of roads and other infrastructure work that was necessary.

The five-million-dollar Biche High School, in rural south Trinidad, was to have accommodated 525 students. It, too, had been the target of much criticism from the start.

Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) President Trevor Oliver described the situation as “scandalous”, noting that his union had called for an enquiry into the school’s construction.

“Had TTUTA not objected, the Ministry of Education would have sent students there, placing their lives at risk, and even though we asked for the report we never got it, but thank God what is hidden in the dark will eventually come to light,” Oliver told reporters.

He said he hoped the country would “learn a lesson” from the situation and realise that things must be done in a structured way and “must not be rushed, simply for political gains.”

Rowley, in describing a myriad of problems that plagued the construction of the school, said it reflected the former government’s decision to choose sites in haste.

He added an IDB report recommending that Biche be abandoned, and the millions lost in the relocation of another secondary school, “highlights the simple fact that sites were chosen in haste and some site boundaries were uncertain even when the contractors were mobilised.”

Rowley said the Bank has since written off the money used to finance the construction of the school as a loss.

The compound where the school has been constructed is located on a geological fault zone and deposits of hydrocarbons and natural gas have been found.

The Ministry of Energy had warned also that the site posed a threat to life as there were poisonous gases being released there. In a note, the Ministry said “the dangerous releases of flammable liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons would always be a possibility and would place lives and property at risk.”

In a letter dated May 12, 2000, the minister also alerted officials to “the serious health, safety and environmental risks that might exist” and recommended that “a proper engineering geological assessment of the site to be undertaken to determine its suitability for the type of construction being done.”

The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) had also recommended further testing but Kamla Persad Bissessar, then education minister under Panday, said tests conducted by the Caribbean Institute of Research had found “the air standards there are within accepted world standards.”

The TTUTA said it had written the education minister expressing concern over the health and safety conditions and warning, “Young students will face potential risks.”

The union’s concerns came in the middle of the political campaign for December 2000 general elections, during which the Panday administration had been outlining its universal education plan.

The TTUTA said it had demanded a certificate of clearance before it would give its blessing to have its members and students attend the school.

“Given the fact that there are concerns about where it is being built and that poisonous gases might be emanating, it is important that when the school is delivered this is done,” Oliver said in a letter to Bissessar in 2000.

He suggested also that the findings of the assessment of the area be made public “so that people could feel confident that our children are not at risk.”

“We are very uneasy that work continues at the Biche site where experts have warned about serious health and safety risks,” the TTUTA said.

Following Rowley’s comments Tuesday, Bissessar has virtually washed her hands of the matter. She told reporters that by the time she had been appointed education minister, the sites for the schools had been selected and construction had begun.

She said she was unaware of the IDB report and could not comment further. But newspaper reports on Wednesday quoted one of the contractors of the school as saying that government had been apprised of the situation but contractors were instructed to continue building the schools.

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