Shadow Minister of Works and Engineering Patricia Gordon-Pamplin last night blasted Government for continually misleading the public over the Berkeley debacle.

She said new Works and Engineering Minster Ashfield DeVent was being made the fall guy for mistakes which began when Premier Alex Scott held the post.

She said: ?It is sad that right to the bitter end, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, the Premier and his Cabinet have adopted an attitude of misleading the public.?

In the House of Assembly last Friday, Ms Gordon-Pamplin told her fellow MPs she had been informed that the project was $10 million over budget and that the May 2004 completion date would not be met. Mr. DeVent later dismissed those claims as ?groundless?.

Yesterday she said: ?In fact, if there was any exaggeration, it was the fact that I advised the House of Assembly of $10 million in overspending and change orders, when, in fact, the number, according to the Government, is $13 million, to this point. We still don?t know what it will cost.?

?They gave us an initial completion date of September 2003, revised it to May 2004, for occupancy in September 2004.

?The Premier, Alex Scott, in his capacity as Works and Engineering Minister, debunked our claims that there would be delays.

?His replacement Terry Lister promised regular updates to the public, none of which were forthcoming.

?And now the new fall guy, inexperienced Minister Ashfield DeVent has to come cap in hand to the public to beg on behalf of the Finance Minister for the public indulgence to pay for the serious incompetence of the now Premier and the PLP administration.?

Mrs. Pamplin-Gordon said Premier Scott, when he was Work and Engineering Minister, had ignored the advice of his technical officers to make his own decision regarding the contract.

?The decision was flawed from the beginning and the taxpayer is being asked to foot the bill for their incompetence,? she said.

?The victims of this gross mismanagement are the students, parents and teachers.?

She said it was futile to ask Government for a revised completion date.?