Government has again refused to say whether troubled builders Landmark Lisgar Construction were the choice of its own experts to handle the $78 million Police/Court building.

The Royal Gazette understands Apex had been selected by Works and Engineering technical officers only for politicians to choose Landmark Lisgar, a joint Bermudian/Canadian company.

Already the budget has gone up $3 million from the original $75 million, the project is at least two months behind and Government has had to appoint a site manager at the cost of around $400,000 to oversee the project.

Last night Shadow Works and Engineering Minister Patricia Gordon Pamplin said the project had all the hallmarks of the Berkeley debacle when Alex Scott overruled his staff to pick Pro-Active.

The company were eventually sacked and the building came in three years late and $57 million over budget.

She said: "The same thing happened with Berkeley — the technical officers made recommendations, they were ignored, they went with whoever they wanted to go with and we ended up with a horrible situation."

And she also raised concerns about Government only demanding retention money of five percent of the total cost of the job to cover any major problems at the site on the corner of Court and Church streets.

Government has refused to answer questions from this newspaper about how Landmark Lisgar were chosen and yesterday Mrs. Gordon got no further with questions to Works and Engineering Minister Derrick Burgess in the House.

The question came as a follow-up about the cost of Government consultant Eddie Henri.

Mr. Burgess said: "That's not a supplementary to the original question. They asked about the costs of the secondment of the site project manager, that is nothing to do with this here, there is no connection."

Mr. Burgess revealed Government would pay BCM McAlpine Ltd. $22,750 for chief site superintendent Mr. Henri.

The Minister said that deal was scheduled to end on May 30, 2010, unless Government decided to shorten it or negotiate an extension.

Asked if Government was confident Landmark Lisgar could fulfil the contract Mr. Burgess said: "Yes, as I said in my ministerial statement, we anticipate to finish on or near the time scheduled."

Pressed on why Government needed a project manager if it was so confident Mr. Burgess said: "It is ironic when we did the Berkeley site the Opposition was saying we should have this type of person there.

"That is the Government's direct representative on-site on a daily basis — on a job of this magnitude I think we should have a person there who has that experience on site to protect our interests."

Asked what percentage of retention money had been agreed upon to be withheld from the contractor in lieu of a performance bond Mr. Burgess said it was "ten percent to a maximum of five percent of the contract sum will be withheld from the contract in lieu of performance bond".

Mrs. Gordon Pamplin said: "Effectively they are saying it's a five percent bond as opposed to a ten percent bond which is normal.

"They are going to take ten percent out of every progress payment until the total is no more than five percent of the total cost of the project."

She said five percent was a minuscule amount if something goes wrong.

"They are capping it at five percent, they are not only running over budget, they need a project manager to help them out but they also have the benefit of only having to put up the equivalent of five percent on a bond."

Mrs. Gordon Pamplin said Government had capped the building at $75 million and promised that whatever additional costs would not be burdened on the public.

"Is Landmark Lisgar going to eat the additional costs of the $22,000 per month from the $78 million that this contract has moved to? Or is it in addition to that?

"They promised us faithfully that this is a good project and that the company will eat the cost overruns. If it is short of the $75 million they will have the credit in their pockets, that was what the public was told. Are they reneging?"

And she expressed frustration a Government Minister could not answer a simple question about how whether Landmark Lisgar were chosen by Works Ministry experts just moments after Premier Ewart Brown had boasted his Government had nothing to hide from the British who were looking at Bermuda's financial dealings.

"I gave his minister the opportunity to answer a question in respect to whether the builders of the Court building are the first choice of the technical officers and the Government failed to answer," said Mrs. Gordon Pamplin.

"On the one hand he is saying he doesn't want people dipping into our business because everything is above board but given the chance to answer a straight forward 'yes' or 'no' question they ducked it."