Government is to spend another $13 million on the Berkeley school project after announcing its completion date will be delayed for another year.

And it is unclear if contractors ProActive will carry on work at the site after Works and Engineering Minister Ashfield DeVent revealed the company had submitted a claim against Government.

He said he was hopeful the two sides would hammer out a new set of conditions but, if not, Government would consider its options.

The Minister arrived at a Press conference yesterday hotfoot from negotiations, but avoided most of the key questions before heading back to meet with ProActive.

The company had been awarded the contract in 2001 after costing its part in the project at $68 million. Yesterday, Government said total funds allocated to the school would be $101 million in today?s Budget Statement.

Yesterday?s announcement came less than a week after Shadow Works and Engineering Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin questioned Mr. DeVent on the timetable and cost of the project. Speaking in the House of Assembly, Ms Gordon-Pamplin said she had been informed that the cost of the project had risen by $10 million and that the completion date had been set back. Mr. Devent later dismissed those claims as ?groundless?.

Yesterday, Mr. DeVent said: ?The second senior secondary school is, to date, the biggest development project that Government has ever undertaken.

?It is no secret that various setbacks have delayed the completion date, even though we were given assurance that all deadlines would be met.

?Today I, as the Minister of Works and Engineering and Housing, have the responsibility to inform the people of Bermuda that we have experienced a further delay.

?Construction of the new senior secondary school is now not scheduled to be complete for at least a year after we had expected.

?I am not at all happy to have to bring this news to the public, our client, the Ministry of Education, or particularly to the students who would be attending this new school and their parents.?

Asked later about the completion date, which has been changed for a second time, Mr. DeVent agreed September this year was out.

Ironically he made the announcement in the Cabinet room in front of a photo montage of the Berkeley project, which boasted the original completion date of September 2003.

Asked for a specific date Mr. DeVent said: ?I said it?s a year from now ? I haven?t said exactly.

?Hopefully we can thrash this out and get on with building the school.?

However the Minister later relayed a message through a staff member from the Works and Engineering Department to say the year mentioned was one-year on from the September 2003 date.

Earlier Mr. DeVent said there had been ?quite a number? of design changes which had delayed the project.

?Those are the things we expect on such a huge project. I have been informed that?s part and parcel of major projects,? he said.

He said in September of 2003, the general contractors, ProActive Management Systems Ltd. (PAMS) had submitted a claim against Government after which consultants had recommended to Government the contractor be granted an extension partly because of challenges after works had begun including design changes and changes related to the structural steel design.

?To date, the Ministry continues to meet with ProActive in an attempt to agree a new set of conditions for proceeding with the project from this point forward,? said Mr. DeVent.

?In the event the Ministry is not able to conclude these negotiations to our satisfaction, we will consider all options available under the existing contract between ourselves and ProActive Management Systems Ltd.?

He said Government had put in an additional $13 million for the project.

?The additional funds will provide protection against any items that might arise.

?I firmly believe it makes good business sense to make provision for any known claims or occurrences that might negatively impact the cost of taking the project through to completion. The additional $13 million, which will be reflected in the Budget, will cover such contingencies.

?The additional funds take the total allocated funding for the project from $88 million to $101 million.

?I know that this delay has come as a great disappointment to many, including the Ministry of Education, and I am not na?ve enough to hope that this announcement will be taken lightly.

?Some of the criticism may be justified. However, we can all appreciate that it is not unusual for a construction project of this magnitude to be subject to delays of one kind or of another. I have come to uphold my promise to keep the public informed.

?We have only one goal: To complete the second senior secondary school so our children will be able to carry out their education in a well-designed, state-of-the-art facility.?

Following his statement the Minister refused to say what ProActive?s claim was about or whether Government regretted choosing ProActive.

He said: ?We have got to finish this school and they are the ones that?s been picked to do it and we are going to work together to complete this school.

?I don?t want to broach anything which might jeopardise the critical position we are in at this moment,? said the Minister.

Asked if the $13 million was being allocated as a bail-out Mr. DeVent said: ?No one has mentioned anything about a bail out. It?s a fund that?s there contingent to whatever arises.?

Asked if the sum would be given to ProActive the Minister said: ?I never said that. That is money there in case we find ourselves in problems.?

He said work was still going on at the site despite the negotiations.