Government has appointed a consultant to oversee work on the $78 million Police/Court building in Hamilton which is two months behind schedule, according to Works and Engineering Minister Derrick Burgess.

But he is confident that management changes mean the project will be finished close to its original deadline of September 2010.

BMC McAlpine have loaned experienced project supervisor Eddy Henri while a local firm of architects is being brought in on the project after Mr. Burgess said problems arose because of "geotechnical challenges" and management deficiencies.

He also blamed delays on the fact that original architects Carruthers Shaw and Partners were based in Canada.

He told The Royal Gazette: "The plans that came from Carruthers had 50-odd piles — we ended up putting about 20 there. It is hard ground.

"When you get folks from overseas doing these plans they do it based on the Canadian environment. Bermuda is different, you don't have to put all these pylon there."

Asked why a Canadian firm had been employed Mr. Burgess said: "Those plans are over ten years old, certainly before I got there."

And Mr. Burgess revealed that there was now no performance bond — even though Landmark/Lisgar Construction — a joint venture Bermudian/Canadian company had been required to give one.

A performance bond is similar to insurance — it can be called if a project is not finished, done properly or on time.

Mr. Burgess said that a performance bond had originally been provided through Aviva Insurance from Canada.

"There were difficulties associated with the fact that the funds or assets underpinning this bond were located in Canada rather than Bermuda.

"It didn't satisfy the Finance Department which wanted the assets to be posted in Bermuda. Not that you couldn't be covered but if you had an issue you would have to go to the Canadian courts to get it which is rather costly."

So Mr. Burgess said retention funds had been put aside to insure against non-performance or inadequate performance. "This new arrangement will be in lieu of a performance bond."

However Mr. Burgess would not say what sum had been put away or why he would not make that figure public.

Shadow Works and Engineering Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin said taxpayers needed to know what the retention figure was — ten percent being the normal figure.

She said it made no sense to say to say you couldn't call on a bond because the underlying assets were in Canada.

"Canada is not Siberia or the moon. We hop on a plane and go to Canada every day."

She feared costs would rise again on a project now capped at $78 million with new consultants and architects coming on board.

Mr. Burgess had previously said that a budget of $66 million was for construction of the building, another $6.9 million was for a construction manager fee and $5.1 million was built-in for unforeseen changes.

Landmark/Lisgar were made responsible for managing the project and farming out work to other contractors at the site on the of Church Street, Court Street and Victoria Street.

But with new oversight being brought in Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin wondered what Landmark/Lisgar were being paid for.

And she said this Government should take responsibility for the project and not blame it on the previous Government.

"They signed the contract, if there was some aspect they felt they couldn't buy in to they had the ability to rewrite the rules.

"To turn around after ten years of Government and say this is a UBP lay-over is the height of ridiculousness. To point fingers at other people shows how pitifully inadequate you are in your own right. Take responsibility for the decisions you have made."

She said Government had a track record of projects which ran over budget and came in late — only for Government to then revise both timelines and costs and then claim success.

She said: "TCD went from a $5.3 million to an $8.2 million and they were boasting yesterday that they came in at $14 million on time and on budget — anything can be on budget if you change the number.

"Change the time frame — anything can come in on time. But I think the people of Bermuda have to start to question the efficiency of Government and how they are spending their money."

Government often didn't put out contracts to effective bidding and often overrode the recommendation of their technical officers, said Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin.

"We don't know the principals behind Landmark/Lisgar but I can tell you if we started to delve into who the bodies are I can guarantee it is going to be smacking of those favourite contractors that seem to appear on every other Government contract.

"The small guy is not getting a look in."

But she would not elaborate on who she thought was behind the Landmark/Lisgar project.