Millions in the swamp

The school is now earmarked to be demolished because, according to Minister of Education Anthony Garcia, the building was found to be sinking in a swamp. Its status was only revealed by Garcia on Tuesday in response to a question at the Conversations with the Prime Minister event held at the Point Fortin East Secondary School.

Garcia said the original designers of the structure, intended to be a two-storey building, were fired.

When another designer was hired, it was decided that a single- storey facility might have been able to stand up on the site. He said Government is now in search of a new location for the construction of the school.

Minister in the Ministry of Education Dr Lovell Francis further told Newsday his investigations into the school revealed villagers warned contractors against building the school on that site.

“The villagers told me they told the contractor to be very careful about building the school on that site because it used to be a dam so the water table there is very high,” Francis said. He said prior to this Government’s tenure, there were also plans to retrofit the sinking school which would have skyrocketed the cost from $28 million to about $68 million.

It is for law enforcement authorities and investigating agencies to determine what happened in this project. But at first glance, the spectre of a million- dollar State project sinking in the mire brings to mind the Johnny O’Halloran scandal which saw him accept bribes for the construction of a new Caroni Racing Complex. Tonnes of steel and concrete, worth close to $100 million of taxpayers’ money, were sunk into the Caroni swamp as foundation materials for a project that was never completed.

The Fanny Village school project must be subject to a thorough and transparent investigation to determine whether corruption played any role.

Sadly, despite an extensive commission of inquiry into the public construction sector, it seems the State has not learned from its mistakes. That inquiry heard evidence that the Tarouba project was built on unsuitable clay soils despite local warnings.

Another project which also comes to mind is the Las Alturas apartment complex in Morvant.

A commission of inquiry into that project again heard evidence of the State pursuing the project despite warnings from locals that the site was unsuitable.

We are clearly not learning from our mistakes.

And who is suffering? In this case, the children.

The cash-strapped State may be loath to hold another commission of inquiry in this instance, but that does not mean such an inquiry is unjustified.

What role was played in this project by all the actors: the Ministry of Education, the Education Facilities Company Ltd (EFCL), the contractor, the Ministry of Planning and its Town and Country Planning Division, the regional corporation body? These kinds of questions can only be resolved by an inquiry done not by the EFCL but rather by an independent body. Any forensic investigation must support such an impartial review.

Yet given our history of not learning lessons from our past, why bother? Because it is the duty of the State to identify those who are responsible for this travesty. And, if necessary, legal action should be taken.