Work on Virginia Park Elementary School moving ahead, says David Brazil
The minister of transportation and works says construction should resume soon on the new Virginia Park Elementary school in St. John's.
David Brazil said the school will be ready to open in 2017.
Virginia Park Elementary school council questioning construction delays
Peter Whittle, a member of the school council for Virginia Park Elementary, recently questioned the construction delays, saying that poor project management was the source of the problems.
However, Brazil said that things are moving along. Over the past few months, he said, government has been working on finalizing the design and reviewing the process to minimize change orders.
He said that tenders will be let out in the next few weeks and construction should begin shortly.
"We've been accused to a point of saying we're playing politics here or we're stopping the school. Nothing could be farther than the truth," said Brazil.
"We've committed the money, an additional $6 million, to do this. I'm moving the project fully ahead."
The school ran into delays last year, after construction workers found a military airplane fuselage on the construction site.
The site is a former dump for the old Fort Pepperell army base, which operated from 1940 to 1961.
Brazil said that safely removing the airplane required a lot of time and an additional $6 million. He said that securing the extra funding also held up the process.
A 2007 report found that parts of the current Virginia Park Elementary are so dilapidated and unsafe they "wouldn't meet standards in the developing world." Work began on a replacement school in 2010.
