NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (February 08, 2021) — The progress and quality of work on the construction of the Technical Wing at the Gingerland Secondary School (GSS) has received high marks from an Education official in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA).

Hon. Troy Liburd, Junior Minister of Education on Nevis expressed satisfaction with the level of work done on the construction of the state-of-the-art technical wing at the end of a tour of the construction site on February 08, 2021.

“I was very pleased to hear that we can expect the building to be somewhere close to completion by the commencement of the new school year. So our students who attend here at the Gingerland Secondary School could look forward to sometime in the near future or sometime in the next upcoming school year to start inhabiting and using this building.

“I know that all of the things that are going to happen here in this building when it’s complete they are only going to be for the benefit of our students and for the benefit of the island of Nevis. So I am very, very pleased with the progress. I am pleased with the workmanship and the level of work that I have seen. The level of work that I have seen is top quality. So I must say that I am very, very happy about what I have seen here,” he said.

Meantime, Mr. Oswald Wilfred, Construction Manager for Lefco Equipment Rental and Construction Company, contractor for the project acknowledged that construction was moving along well and gave an update on the status.

“So far in relation to progress, I could say that we are progressing fairly well. We hope to increase the progress as we move along to the finishing stages of the project which is happening soon probably in the month of February.

“We definitely feel that we should be able to bring in the project at the recommended time probably a little pass it but according to construction you normally have certain difficulties that you have to encounter,” he said.

Mr. Darius Comberbatch, Engineer for FDL Consult Inc. in St. Lucia, Consultants for the project noted that their main responsibility is to supervise the construction work of the contractor. He explained that according to the plan, progress at this stage is around 60 percent. However, they had fallen just short of that target.

“We are around 56 percent which is around 4 percent light which we believe with the contractors executing the works and continued progress we should be pleased to have the project completed before the start of the next school year which will be to everyone’s benefit,” he said.

The project forms part of the US$8 million St. Kitts and Nevis Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Enhancement Project, an initiative of the Government of St. Kitts and

Nevis funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the Federal Government and the NIA. It is being executed by the TVET Secretariat in the Ministry of Education in St. Kitts.

Also on the tour were Mr. Kevin Barrett, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education in the NIA; Mr. Dorson Ottley, TVET Officer in the Department of Education on Nevis and Mr. Lester Blackett Project Manager.