Government was urged to come clean last night after construction experts claimed the Island's planned state-of-the-art secondary school was about six months behind its building schedule.

A construction boss and an experienced construction estimator studied the plans for the $70 million new Berkeley Institute, along with aerial photographs of work done so far, and both concluded there was no possible way the building could be ready by September next year.

The construction estimator, who did not wish to be named but who has more than 30 years' experience in the trade, said only about 25 percent of the steel had been erected on the site, as of about two-and-a-half weeks ago.

He said of the steel erected, only half of the roof had been put on, and most walls and floors were still missing.

And he said when he visited the site yesterday, there had been very little change.

The estimator said as the mammoth project was now half way through its two-year schedule, all of the building frame should have been built, and sealed.

"I have seen some badly delayed developments in my time, and this is among them," said the estimator.

"When I went to the site, and looked at the photographs, I was totally surprised at how far behind they were.

"If you extrapolate that it took them seven months to erect 23 percent of the steel from when they planned to start in February, then it is going to take them an awful long time to do the rest. Anybody can do the math."

The estimator said the site plan of the building footprint showed approximately 103,000 sq ft of building.

However, he said the aerial view photographs revealed that only 23,500 sq ft of that footprint had been erected in steel.

More than half of the main school building is still to be built, which will house the kitchens, cafeteria and theatre, as well as the separate gymnasium and the central power plant.

However, contractors are working beneath ground on the foundations of the gym.

The estimator said: "The entire building should have been water tight by now, so the sub-contractors could get in and start on the interior."

The Royal Gazette took the opportunity to get some aerial photographs of the Berkeley site after the president and general manager of general contractor Pro-Active Management Systems Ltd, Arthur Ebbin, repeatedly refused the newspaper onto the site, and then later failed to return numerous calls.

A reporter from the newspaper was given a tour of the site in January. At that time Mr. Ebbin said he hoped all of the steel would be erected by mid-March and promised that the project would be delivered on time and on budget.

He said the job was running about six weeks behind schedule, due to importation problems caused by September 11.

However, when The Royal Gazette has called the Berkeley site for Mr. Ebbin in recent weeks, it has repeatedly been told that the general manager cannot be found on the project site, but in the main office, instead.

Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott has repeatedly claimed the project was just a few weeks behind, and only last night promised that the school would be completed on time.

He said: "We are now at a point where we have a window of opportunity between now and December 21 where we are escalating the work on site.

"We are bringing in more resources to the site and, to that end, from what I can understand, we should be more or less on time and on target."

Mr. Scott said The Royal Gazette should have been "embarrassed" to use aerial photographs of the site as an assessment of progress.

The Minister said there was no possible way anyone could assess progress by photographs.

He added: "You are embarrassing yourself by actually coming here. I know they have not fallen five or six months behind.

"Students will be on site as planned. Children will be sitting in there and the school will be operational."

However, asked whether or not children will have to be housed in portable classrooms on the site, he repeated that the school will be operational and open.

And he said that even if some work still needed to be completed on the site, the most important areas would be finished.

A construction boss, who also would not be named but who has nothing to do with the estimator, said he believed the site was about "five or six months adrift", taking into account that it started on the site later than planned last June.

His company was among the five who bid for the project, so he said he knew the plans well. However, when he saw the photographs for the first time this week, he said: "Bloody hell."

He added: "I believe, for the most part, they should have been on the interior fittings by now. With a school there is so much work to be done inside. We estimated that that alone would take about a year.

"At the very least, the buildings should be enclosed by now."

And he estimated that it could take the contractors another two or three months to make the buildings that are partially erected water tight.

He added: "Looking at this, I don't think there is any way they can be ready by September next year.

"I don't buy September 11 as an excuse. It may have slowed things for two weeks, but that would be it."

And both he and the estimator said the site should now be in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week in order to make up for lost time.

However, yesterday, a total of 52 workers left the site at 4 p.m. after finishing their shift, leaving only a skeleton crew behind.

Last night, Shadow Works and Engineering Minister Erwin Adderley urged Government to come clean on the delays and said he was concerned for the tax payers' money.

He said he had heard that Works and Engineering had now taken over responsibility of the site from Pro-Active - something that was denied by the Minister, although he admitted the Ministry was taking on a bigger role.

And Mr. Adderley said rumours were also rife that a performance bond had never actually been put in place for the project by the Bermuda Industrial Union, as claimed, or anyone else - and that, too, was also denied last night.

Mr. Adderley said: "In my professional opinion, the building cannot be completed by September 2003.

"Rule of thumb is that it takes you as long to finish a building on the inside as it did to complete the frame and seal it off.

"How on earth can it be ready for students. Even if the sections that are started are completed on time, there will be no kitchens and cafeteria.

"I think it's time the Government told us for real what is going on."