The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE completion of school repairs, inclusive of capital works, throughout the country is projected to cost the government some $30m, Works and Utilities Minister Alfred Sears said yesterday.

Mr Sears’ comments came as he toured and inspected several schools that were under renovation with Prime Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis, Education Minister Glenys Hanna Martin and other officials.

Schools visited by the delegation included Palmdale Primary, Uriah McPhee Primary, Government High, TA Thompson Junior High and others.

According to education officials, some of those schools were left in a deplorable condition and in need of serious repair.

One of them was TA Thompson.

When The Tribune first visited the site earlier this month, wooden beams were being installed on the roof and construction work was also being done on some of the school’s stairways and balconies.

However, it was a different scene yesterday as most of the work appeared to have been completed.

While touring the area, Mr Davis described the school works as transformative.

“This is a whole transformation from the TA Thompson school. As you are aware, students relocated from the school about a year ago because this place was just uninhabitable and the building was condemned, but it’s been saved and restored from what it is today,” he said.

He also thanked Mrs Hanna Martin, Mr Sears, their team as well as the contractors involved for their hard work in getting schools ready.

“We visited those schools that were in the most dire state insofar as works were concerned and let me just say that I am gratified and I am satisfied and I am elated and I want to say congratulations to the minister of education and the minister of works for their commitment and passion to ensuring that these works were done.

“One of the contractors just told me a while ago that the minister called him out of church one evening because she was concerned about the pace of the work and for that we must take our hat off to our minister of education for leading the charge and the minister of works for lending support as was necessary to have these works completed.

“Schools will open on schedule,” he added.

As for the cost of the school repairs, Mr Sears estimated it at $30m.

In her budget communication speech earlier this year, Minister Hanna Martin said $15m was allocated for school repairs in the 2022/23 fiscal year.

“The school repairs, it’s not only been in New Providence but throughout the archipelago, bearing degree in terms of the scope and it is projected at $30m,” Mr Sears said.

“Now as you will see, in some of these projects, the scope comprise repair (work) but as we saw at Uriah McPhee, we also have capital work and the repair of the schools is completed but capital works are being undertaken such as the building of the pavilion, the tuck shop, the covered walkway from the main school building to that area so that is the estimate.”

Schools are set to re-open in the country today.