Road Town, Tortola - Construction of the Culinary Arts Centre is expected to get underway by mid-year.
Assistant Secretary in the Premier’s Office with responsibility for projects, Mrs. Elvia Smith-Maduro said the bids submitted for the project are now being re-evaluated, having been presented to Government for a second time.
Responding to a question from the Leader of the Opposition during a recent sitting of the House of Assembly, Premier and Minister of Finance Honourable Ralph T. O’Neal, OBE disclosed that all the original bids were over budget. “An evaluation of the bids received revealed that the bids were all substantively over what was budgeted for the project,” the Premier stated.
“Since all the bids were higher than the price allowed for the job, the matter was referred to the College Development Board,” Honourable O’Neal added.
He further stated, “The Board then informed the Financial Secretary and the Territorial Authorisation Officer (TAO) that at this phase, they would like to see the teaching labs constructed and the restaurant could be constructed in the next phase as the funds become available.”
Mrs. Smith-Maduro explained to the Department of Information and Public Relations that this essentially means the scope of works has been scaled back. “The three contractors who submitted bids were invited to resubmit bids based on this revision and we are now at the point of re-evaluating their proposals,” she said, adding, “once a contractor is identified, we will forward the recommendation to Cabinet for a final decision.”
According to Mrs. Smith-Maduro, it is hoped that this can be accomplished in the near future to facilitate the start of construction by June.
The Assistant Secretary further explained that the need to reduce the scope of works was prompted by a number of factors including rising construction costs and the global economic downturn which has affected the Territory’s finances. “The plan going forward, as the Premier outlined, would be to construct the two teaching laboratories, one of which will be a pastry lab and the other, a general cooking lab. We hope to be able to construct the restaurant once funds become available.”
Government signed a financing agreement with the European Commission for the culinary arts centre in 2008, under which the EC will provide $1.38 million for the facility.
The culinary arts centre is regarded as an important project for the BVI given its dependence on tourism and the likely benefits the centre will bring as it relates to food service and the overall hospitality industry.
The creation of the new culinary arts centre represents Government’s commitment to enhance the offering of the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College in keeping with its overall goal to develop an education system that will deliver quality education and training that is relevant to students and prepares them to achieve higher levels.
