Government is set to spend close to three quarters of a million dollars for repairs which should have been covered by insurance.

Building renovations set to take place at Nonsuch Island nature reserve will see a new roof put over the main house; the roof was blown off in 1987 when Hurrican Emily savaged the Island.

"The roof was repaired on insurance money after that,'' said Government conservationist David Wingate,"but it should not have been. It really needed to be completely replaced.'' The decision not to replace the roof at that time has compounded problems with the building, he added. Mr. Wingate described for The Royal Gazette the conditions of the buildings.

"Patching done to the roof has not been adequate, especially as the building is subject to vibrations from passing aircraft,'' he said.

"The house suffers chronically with bad leaks and as it does not have a belt course, rain and sea salt leak through the plaster walls causing it to fall apart.

"It got so bad that ceilings were coming down, even those replaced after hurricane Emily.'' Plans are now for the roof to be replaced with SKB roofing.

"The SKB roofing will just solve a lot of logistical problems,'' said Mr.

Wingate. "We had such difficulty with bringing slate over to the island for the last repairs. As there is no proper harbour or dock, the slate was brought over in small amounts on a barge and even then we saw about 30 percent breakage.'' Government has put the much needed work out for tender with a condition that contractors must have completed projects in excess of $750,000 and should have experience working on similar islands.

Buildings manager with the Ministry of Works & Engineering James Tucker said the work is overdue.

"This planned maintenance work has been deferred from last year,'' he said.

Renovations to the main building, which served as the quarantine hospital for yellow fever victims after 1865 and was a correctional training school in 1948, will see more than just the roof replaced.

According to Mr. Tucker, there will also be electrical rewiring and new ceilings along with other internal minor repairs.

Repairs will also be conducted on other buildings and structures on the island.

Electrical wiring of the Octagon building is planned so that it is fitted for use as a museum. The Octagon was used as the dining hall when the quarantine hospital was in effect and as the chapel when the island housed a training school.

Dr. Wingate noted: "The Octagon is to be used for an interpretive museum and has been recommended as a listed building because it is quite unique.'' "The buildings on the island are to be restored so that they can be maintained for the purpose of a living museum,'' Dr. Wingate explained. "We now have so many tours coming out there, eco-tours and so on, that the buildings are being used a lot more than ever before.'' He also revealed that the two docks at Nonsuch are to be "made safe''.

"We run a natural history course annually for high school students and the elder hostel programme at the Biological Station sees several elderly come to the island,'' he said.

"It will still be a primitive dock,'' he added. "It is important for the nature of the island, not to make it modern, but it will be made safer. Planks will be made stronger and hand railing will be put up.'' Completed tenders for the entire project need to be in to the Ministry of Works by May 18.

Dr. David Wingate ENVIRONMENT ENV