Work on the new $70-million secondary school has got back to full throttle this week after Hurricane Fabian massively slowed progress.

Although the site suffered very little damage in the storm seven weeks' ago, the labour force was substantially diminished as many sub-contracted workers were asked to repair roofs and homes, instead of continue with the school.

Sources said that slowed work on the delayed site and it was only this week that the workforce began to increase again, picking up the pace.

However, whether the school on Berkeley Road, Pembroke, will be finished by the new completion date of May 21 next year, as promised by Premier Alex Scott when he was Works and Engineering Minister, remains to be seen.

Some senior sources at the site feared it would not be.

One source said: “There was some damage caused by the hurricane, but it was minimal. The major problem was that workers were moved off the site.

“They were mostly sub-contractors, so I think they were fixing roofs and the like, and the job has only just really started up again in the last few days.

“I would say there was about five or six weeks without any serious effort on the site, and of course, although there was no damage done, debris had to be cleared away after the hurricane.

“That has all put progress back again.”

The source said the go slow had frustrated some parties, particularly some sub-contractors, because it meant they could not get on with their specific functions as quickly as they would have liked.

And he added: “In my own mind, I still feel that the school will be completed by September next year. I can't see the May deadline being met. I have always said September next year, which is a year behind schedule.

“And even then, it needs steady work between now and then. I would say the same pace they have been doing in recent months and no worse. They need to buck it up a bit.

“There is no finish work being done yet - they are still doing major construction. A lot of windows are not in yet and there is not even a roof on some areas.

“There is still a fair way to go.”

And a worker belonging to general contractor Pro-Active Management Systems Ltd. said he still did not believe the school would be finished by the end of May.

He said: “I would like to see it. As far as I'm concerned it won't be finished by then, but if they say May 21, we will have to see. I don't know how they are going to do it.”

General Manager of Pro-Active Arthur Ebbin was not in work yesterday and so was unavailable to comment.

Works and Engineering Minister Terry Lister also has not yet responded to questions about the site.