SHADOW Works & Engineering Minister Erwin Adderley yesterday welcomed the cash bailout of Berkeley contractors Pro-Active Management Systems but said there was no guarantee that this was not a case of "throwing good money after bad".

Mr. Adderley was commenting after mystery benefactors stepped in to pay off debt-ridden Pro-Active's creditors.

The company had fallen into hundreds of thousands of dollars of arrears with sub-contractors working on the new secondary school.

Works & Engineering Minister Alex Scott revealed in the Mid-Ocean News last week that "the ability of Pro-Active to continue on the site had been discussed" last Thursday.

And this week, after two sub-contractors filed writs to get what they were owed by Pro-Active for their work and services, Mr. Scott said benefactors from the private sector - not Government - had offered backing that would enable Pro-Active to pay off their creditors by next Tuesday and thereby probably maintain control of the $68-million project.

Bermuda Industrial Union leader Derrick Burgess did not comment this week when asked whether the BIU had been one of the benefactors.

Mr. Adderley said: "There is no such thing as a free lunch. Somebody is paying for this and I'm hoping it's not the Government or the people of Bermuda.

"There is a lot of speculation as to who's behind this money. There are suggestions that it's the union or someone like John Deuss.

"At the end of the day, who's behind it is not as important as to ensure that we do not lose more money."

Mr. Adderley said he was pleased for the sub-contractors, some of whom could have been saved from bankruptcy by the bailout.

And he said Mr. Scott would have been relieved that he had been spared the need to call upon the "infamous performance bond", the validity of which was questioned by Auditor General Larry Dennis in his audit report on Berkeley. The bond is supposed to act as a kind of insurance policy for the project.

"I'm amazed that the Minister (Mr. Scott) has said there was nothing wrong with Pro-Active, they just had cash flow problems," said Mr. Adderley. "That must be the greatest understatement ever.

"There has been a serious case of mismanagement on that project. And the Minister has not dealt with a significant overrun in terms of cost, nor the significant delay in the completion of the school.

"He has completely dismissed those aspects and that is what I think the Bermudian people are really concerned about.

"The Minister talks a lot, but he says very little. There is no guarantee that the mismanagement is not going to continue. And if it does continue, we will be throwing in good money after bad."

Mr. Adderley also called for assurances from the Government that the situation did not mean that money in the project budgeted for training Bermudians in the construction industry would not get used for another purpose.

"As I understand it, there was $5 million in the budget for training," said Mr. Adderley. "I'm not aware that any training has taken place so I hope that that money has not now fallen by the wayside."

Mr. Dennis' report, released in November, revealed that when the Cabinet selected Pro-Active for the Berkeley contract, it went against the advice of Ministry of Works & Engineering technicians, who had recommended BermudaTech, a more experienced contractor whose bid was $5 million less.

The target completion date for the project was September of this year, but it is unlikely to be finished until well into next year.

The project has been plagued with controversy and matters came to a head at the end of last month when workers' pay cheques bounced.