Braving heavy rain yesterday, parents and pupils of the Preysal Government Primary School demanded answers over the stoppage of work on their new school building.
Standing outside the old school building, parents held up placards calling on the Ministry of Education to shed some light on the project, while their children chanted “Fix we school now,” from inside the school compound.
Former head of the school’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA), Patrick Antoine, said construction on the new school building came to a halt after last year’s general election.
“Before construction began on the new school building, the PTA was promised that Phase 1 of the project would be completed in 16 months,” Antoine said.
“But immediately after the election last year, work stopped on the building and now, more than two years after the start, Phase 1 is only about 50 per cent complete.”
Antoine said after repeated pleas to the ministry, the parents decided to take action yesterday, as their children and teachers are growing frustrated with the current cramped conditions.
“The parents and teachers had agreed that the children would stay at this school while the construction goes on next door.
“But the old building is cramped, there are problems with the sewer and now we are seeing that material is being carried off the site.”
Another concerned parent, Seeta Rampersad, said the current accommodations were a health and safety nightmare.
“The beams in the old building are a hazard because this building is over 30 years old.
“Every three to four weeks the sewer backs up, overflows and the children have to be sent home.
“There is no muster point in the event of an emergency and yet still they have stopped the project. We need someone to give us answers on what is going on.”
A 20-foot sign located on the compound lists Pricemaster Hardware & Electrical Ltd as the contractor.
The T&T Guardian also tried contacting Education Minister Anthony Garcia but calls to his cellphone went unanswered up to late yesterday.
CONTRACTOR: EFCL not paying
Contacted yesterday, one of the directors at Pricemaster Hardware and Electrical Ltd, who asked to remain anonymous, said the company had not been paid any money for the project since last September.
"The project was stopped recently, we had to send home the workers as we could no longer pay them. We have not received any money from the Education Facilities Company Ltd (EFCL) since last September."
"We had to lay off workers and stop work on the site, it is just not possible for us to continue work if we are not being paid. We were using our own money to pay the workers for some time but we cannot continue with that."
He said the company had other on-going projects with the Government but declined to give any information about those projects.