Works Minister Alex Scott has finally admitted what has been perfectly obvious for months.

The Berkeley Institute will not be completed until May 21, 2004 and will not be ready for occupancy until the following September.

Whether this date is any more believable than any of the other statements Mr. Scott has made about this project remains to be seen. But his credibility is very low. Virtually nothing that he has said up to now about the Berkeley project has been borne out.

So all that can be taken as fact now is that the new Berkeley will open at least one year behind schedule. The public must judge the quality of management of the project based on that fact alone.