Neither the Opposition, nor the Bermuda Union of Teachers were surprised yesterday at reports that Berkeley Institute?s new campus would not be ready by January.

Education and Development Minister, Terry Lister said he could not comment on when the school would be ready or would start taking students, responded by saying: ?I?m not really in the position right now to give you definite dates. Hopefully we?ll be able to do that pretty soon.?

The news made for a lively discussion in the House of Assembly yesterday by various Opposition MPs including Patricia Gordon-Pamplin who told afterwards that the Bermudian people have been ?blatantly? lied too since day one.

Echoing statements made in the House by Shadow Minister of Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety, Maxwell Burgess, Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin demanded Government ?come clean? and stop lying to people.

Just from observation of the site, Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin said it was obvious the school would not be ready when the Ministry of Works said it would be.

The greatest point of contention has been the gym, which is still under construction.

The school has been steeped in controversy since ground broke at the new site on June 18, 2001 with a then completion date of September 4, 2003.

However in August, 2004 ? a year past the completion date ? Pro-Active?s contract was cancelled and three months later Somers Construction continued with work on the project that was estimated to be around $87 million. This compares to the original bid from Pro-Active for just about $72 million.

In March this year, Government announced the first phase of the new school would be completed by September, but a few weeks later the Berkeley Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) vowed to push for a September, 2006 opening, despite Government?s assurance that students would not be moved to a construction site.

In June, Government said pupils and staff would move to a completed campus in January, a decision which was backed by the Berkeley PTSA.

The chairman of the Berkeley Institute Board of Trustees, Calvin White, yesterday said he could not comment, except to say that the governing body was working with the Ministry to occupy the school as soon as it was safe and possible to do so.

Bermuda Union of Teachers general secretary Michael Charles said September, 2006 would be a more sensible timeline because it meant that teachers would not be rushed.

?It will be a nice clean transition with everyone on one campus,? he said.

As for the final cost of the school, Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin claimed the school was already $50 million over-budget with a final price tag of $121.2 million ? before arbitration with Pro-Active had even begun ? and would possibly come to much more.

That made it, she said, the most ?expensive school on the planet?.

She added that if the Government could not deliver the school by September next year then they should ?step aside and let someone who knows what they?re doing do it?.

Neither Works and Engineering Minister, Sen. David Burch, nor Permanent Secretary, Russell Wade were available for comment yesterday.