CONFUSION over who is now in charge of the Berkeley project is rampant within Government ? with some claiming that the project has now been handed over to the Ministry of Education, and others confirming that more work needs to be done by the Ministry of Works & Engineering.

And last night Shadow Works & Engineering Minister Jon Brunson said Government had been caught in a contradiction over the status of the project, .

He pointed out that last month Works & Engineering Minister David Burch insisted that construction work had been completed and the school was in the hands of Education officials. That claim has since been denied by other ministry officials ? and Sen. Burch himself.

In November Works & Engineering Minister David Burch insisted that the school would be fully built and signed over to the Ministry of Education at the beginning of January.

But on January 6, the revealed that the construction project was still under the responsibility of the Ministry of Works & Engineering, and that Sen. Burch had broken his pledge.

Within a week, on January 12, the Minister held a press conference announcing that the school was substantially complete ? it had always been acknowledged that the gymnasium would not be finished for several more months ? and had finally been signed over.

"What is required now is a licence agreement that has been signed by myself and the Minister of Education and currently resides with the Board of Governors of the Berkeley Institute," Sen. Burch said.

"Once that is signed I presume the Ministry of Education will hand the facility over to the school."

That claim has now been contradicted by David Butterfield, Sen. Burch's subordinate at the Ministry who, in a leaked e-mail, said the school would be handed over on January 26 ? two weeks after Sen. Burch claimed it had already been handed over.

In an e-mail to construction site staff dated January 16, Mr. Butterfield wrote: "On Thursday, January 26, 2005, all keys for these areas are to be handed over to Ministry of Education at 2.30 p.m."

Then, at a press conference last week Senator Burch said that the school was still not complete and that final inspections were still to be carried out.

And yesterday Acting Minister Larry Mussenden confirmed that all necessary regulatory bodies had carried out a full inspection of the school and the Ministry of Education was now preparing the school for students ? but further inspections needed to be carried out.

Last night Mr. Brunson said: "Government has zero credibility over this project ? it's as if the left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing.

"Basically what the Acting Minister is saying is a direct contradiction to what the Minister said in January."

Mr. Brunson also questioned why Government had still failed to answer Mr. Martel's allegations.

"There is a huge difference between unfinished work and work that poses a safety risk," he said.

"Government has intentionally misled us and misrepresented information about this project ever since it began. In order for me to be satisfied and the Bermudan public to be satisfied, there is a simple solution ? let's have an independent evaluation of the facility.

"Mr. Martel has presented evidence and that evidence has to be refuted ? Government has still not done that."