Government has clarified the role of Somers Construction in the project to complete building the new secondary school at Berkeley and said that the remaining work will be put out to tender.

?As construction managers of the site, Somers Construction will not employ any direct labour on the site, nor will they bid on any of the work packages that will be defined,? Works and Engineering Minister Ashfield DeVent said.

The Works Ministry will have the lead management role in the project, while Somers will be construction managers who will advise and help the Ministry prepare tender packages for the remaining work, said Works Minister at a late afternoon Press conference.

Mr. DeVent reported that Government planned to engage an ?independent professional Canadian-based firm? to assess the site and determine the remaining workload.

He said the assessors will arrive on the weekend or early next week, but he declined to name the company saying that a contract had not been signed.

In stark contrast to his first press conference announcing the termination of Pro-Active Management System?s contract last week, Mr. DeVent was accompanied by eight Cabinet Ministers, including Premier Alex Scott and Education Minister Terry Lister.

Somers? involvement with the project has caused some anxiety among the former Pro-Active workers who say the company has a less than stellar reputation as an employer when it comes to labour relations and worry that they will be financially worse off working the non union company.

Mr. DeVent could not say how long the assessment will take, but said that work will start before the assessment is fully completed.

?In order to facilitate the completion of this project in as short a time as possible, as assessments of each area are completed, we will then move in to begin work in those areas.?

The main priority is the roof, he said.

?This will allow other urgent work that is associated with bringing permanent power to the site to be completed, and of course, it is also critical that we tighten all safety conditions at the site to enable the other work to continue.?

The Minister said that Government expected that most of the work will be carried out by local contractors and that it will be encouraging them to employ former Pro-Active workers.

Overseas tradesmen will only be sought if necessary.

?I am disappointed to report that earlier today a worker threatened the life of a Works and Engineering and Housing employee when he was carrying out his duties at the site. This behaviour will not be tolerated.

And the Minister repeated earlier statements that Government planned to return to Pro-Active any equipment the company left on the site.

Government?s priorities, he said, were to complete the school in as short a time as possible, to the highest quality and at the least possible cost. Addressing Pro-Active?s allegations of sabotage by civil servants, Mr. DeVent said he had had no formal complaints but had heard reports.

And civil servants had not refused any of his instructions, he said when asked. ?Issues of sabotage may be where someone said we are not accepting the work as is.?