Government will be throwing good money after bad if it does not replace the management on the new secondary school building site, it was claimed last night.

A major sub-contractor, who has been working on the site but did not wish to be named, said it was naive of Minister of Works and Engineering Alex Scott to say the only problem suffered by general contractor Pro-Active Management Systems Ltd. had been cash-flow.

The sub-contractor, who is among those still waiting to be paid thousands of dollars by Pro-Active, said: "The money is only one of the problems Pro-Active has had to deal with.

"Pro-Active has a myriad of other problems, not least of which is the fact that they have never really known what they were doing.

"Even if Pro-Active pays off the debt that it owes to sub-contractors, there should still be another construction company coming in here to manage the project. It hasn't been managed properly from the start, and I am disappointed that the Minister said yesterday Pro-Active would not be removed.

"They all need to go away and figure out how to manage the job."

The Royal Gazette reported yesterday that secret benefactors had come to the aid of Pro-Active, which only last week was on the brink of collapse.

Mr. Scott said a number of financial backers from the private sector had stepped in to pay off the mounting arrears, and therefore there would be no need to remove Pro-Active from the key management role, as at first feared.

However, he said the principals behind Pro-Active may want to restructure the management system, or add to it, but the general contractor would not be replaced.

Work on the site in Berkeley Road, Pembroke, has almost come to a standstill as sub-contractors and suppliers refused to return to the site until their outstanding accounts were settled.

It is believed at least two contractors are owed in excessive of $200,000, but a host of others are awaiting payments, and two have already filed writs.

Last week, the Works Ministry held a number of talks in a bid to find a solution to the problem, but promised the debts would be settled and work would begin again in earnest.

And on Wednesday the Minister said he had been given an undertaking by Pro-Active that all of the debts would be paid off by Tuesday next week.

But yesterday, a sub-contractor, who is owed a lot of money, complained that nobody from Government or the site had contacted them to say when the debts would be settled.

The manager said: "Nobody has bothered to tell us when we are going to get our money. All we know is what we read in The Royal Gazette.

"As far as I know, nothing is different today to what it was last week. We should not have to find out what's going on through the Press.

"There is still very little activity on the site and the sub-contractors who are there are being held up because the overall work rate of the project is so slow. It's not good."

Shadow Works Minister Erwin Adderley said it was not enough for Government to simply say the debts would be paid off and therefore everything should continue as normal.

Mr. Adderley said the public had a right to know why the debts had risen so high.

He said: "This has not been a cash flow problem, this has been a bad management problem from the outset.

"Allowing Pro-Active to continue managing the site will simply be throwing good money after bad. Pro-Active has to come off the site, or somebody has to tell me how they are dealing with their inability to manage.

"We can't go on as we have been so far. By keeping the status quo, we are just waiting for the same problems to arise again. It's stupid."

Mr. Adderley asked where the additional management skills were going to come from. And he questioned what had happened to the hopes of training Bermudians on the building site - and the $5 million that was set aside to pay for it.

But last night, Mr. Scott said training programmes were in operation on the Berkeley site, and he said no other major project in the history of Bermuda had involved so many Bermudian workers.

With regard to claims that Pro-Active should be removed from the site, Mr. Scott maintained that the only problems with the general contractor had been cash flow, and perhaps the slow work rate.

The Minister said terminating Pro-Active's contract and calling in the $6.8 million performance bond (financial guarantee), followed by bringing in another general contractor, would cost the taxpayer a lot of money.

As it was, he said the job site was under budget at the moment, and no extra cost was being added to the public purse.

The Minister said: "We (Government) are bringing to the site a management team who are going to do an evaluation for us, so we will be able to get an independent view of what has been achieved and what needs to be achieved for us to realise the earliest possible completion of the project.

"They are going to be individuals who are familiar with Pro-Active and familiar with the site. They were originally part of the Pro-Active team when the bid was made.

"They can hit the deck running. The opportunity is there is for the principals behind Pro-Active to avail themselves to the expertise these individuals have, and either consult with them or take the matter further.

"They may put together a combination of individuals and skills."

Mr. Scott said Government had been concerned about the rate of the work, but felt the quality was excellent.

"Therefore, if the principals behind Pro-Active choose to bring new management skills to the site, we would see that as beneficial," he added.

He said Government would not be reviewing Pro-Active's books, but said the public had nothing to fear because Government had lost nothing financially.