The Ministry of Works and Engineering met yesterday with subcontractors to finalise when refurbishment work will be restarted on Spice Valley Middle School.

Minister Alex Scott said that if all parties can agree, he hoped building work on the Warwick school would begin again as early as next week.

The Ministry was forced to pick up the pieces of the multi-million dollar project after general contractor BermudaTech Construction became bankrupt earlier this month.

The company was placed in the hands of a receiver, and last week it was decided that the business would not be able to continue or honour its contractual obligations.

Working with the receiver, the three directors, Terry Griffiths, Maurice Caines and Jonathan Baxter, are winding-up the company.

And yesterday, The Royal Gazette learned that subcontractor Advanced Engineering had filed a writ against BermudaTech, although neither the engineering firm nor its lawyers would comment.

Mr. Scott said yesterday that as a result of BermudaTech going under, his Ministry was completing a legal assessment of the matter, as well as determining the most effective means of completing the project.

He said his department had three components that it considered paramount to rectifying the situation with regards to Spice Valley.

He said: “The Government's desire is to do the right thing to aid the subcontractors who find themselves in this unfortunate situation by developing a win-win agreement to complete the project.

“The second end in mind involves a completion schedule that does not put the Ministry of Education at any disadvantage. Being in a position to deliver the middle school curriculum to the children at the start of the 2002-03 academic year is a critical factor and one that we will consider as essential.

“The avoidance of inconvenience to the children, parents and teachers, and school administration, are of primary concern to the Minister and Ministry of Education, and the Government.”

And Mr. Scott said the final goal was to ensure that the general public was not burdened by the default of BermudaTech Construction, and that the Ministry managed the funds associated with the capital project in a “fiscally responsible and prudent manner”.

He added: “We take this responsibility seriously and will endeavour to perform this task in an effective, efficient and yet equitable way.

“We will keep the general public appraised of this dynamic situation recognising the importance for us to provide factual information and avoid the development of prevarication in the rumour mill.

“We are meeting with the subcontractors today, and if all goes as hoped and anticipated, we will be on site working as early as next week.

“It's just putting the specific blocks in place, meaning agreement from subcontractors and putting the supervisory individuals in place.”