Minister of Works and Engineering Alex Scott was last night accused of telling half truths over the revised completion date of the new secondary school development.

Shadow Minister Erwin Adderley said claims by Mr. Scott on Friday that he did not realise the Education Ministry needed six months to move into the school after the building was finally finished were false.

The Minister said on Friday that although the school would not be finished now until May 21 - eight months after the original deadline of September 2003 - he had not realised that the school would not have been outfitted in time for the students to move in this coming September, anyway.

So, he said, despite everyone believing that the new school was supposed to be open in time for the new term, he now appreciated that that was never actually the case.

He said the completion date for the project might have been September, but that did not include the transition period.

"What the Minister is suggesting is that his technical officers didn't tell him that it would take months to outfit the school," said Mr. Adderley.

"I have confidence in the technical officers and believe they will have advised him. The Minister is not telling the people the truth. He is simply electioneering... and trying to do some damage control. The man is still not prepared to tell the truth.

"I know that the ultimate objective was to have the kids in this new school in September. The building was supposed to be finished by March this year. There was never talk of moving them in half way through the school year."

The Royal Gazette reported on Saturday how general contractor Pro-Active Management Systems Ltd. had estimated that the majority of the delayed $70 million project would be finished by May 21, with the gym following on in August.

Mr. Scott also revealed how he had now hired the American H.R. Lubben Group as consultants to advise him on the progress of the site and to suggest how the project could be fast tracked.

Officials from the Lubben Group were flying in to the Island on Friday, but had not seen the latest developments of the school when Mr. Scott announced the new completion date that day. So, it is unknown whether or not the consultants agree that the new timeline can be met.

"How does the Minister come to the conclusion that the new completion date is going to be May without first discussing it with the Lubben Group?," said Mr. Adderley.

Mr. Adderley also questioned the estimated cost of the new consultants to Government, which Mr. Scott guessed at about $15,000 a fortnight.

Mr. Adderley said while the company may have been prepared to charge that fee for just a two-week period earlier this year, the cost for a longer, more substantial period was likely to be much greater.

And he said if the Lubben Group was the original partner to Pro-Active when the general contractor first submitted its bid for the project two years ago, then it will probably now want to claim its original fee.

"If he thinks he will be able to hire these consultants to bail him out on the basis of $15,000 a fortnight, he must be crazy," said Mr. Adderley.

On Friday, the Minister said he wished to announce Pro-Active's new deadline now, before the Lubben Group had assessed the site, purely because it could be a further two or three weeks before the consultants reported back.

And he said, as for the cost of the consultants, Government would probably have to pick up the tab, although it may be costed into the project at the end.

However, Mr. Scott said it was important for people to realise that although the project was behind schedule, the quality of work was excellent and it was largely to budget - only being a million dollars over so far.

And he said never before had a project been put together by so many Bermudians.

He said: "So much has been written about this new school, but little has been reported about the many positive things it represents. Therefore, it may be instructive to identify some of the achievements to date that are in danger of being missed.

"The incentive scheme to find and hire Bermudians worked. Tradesmen, professionals, subcontractors all combined to represent for the first time such a high percentage of Bermudians (95 - 97 percent) and have provided all the labour, skills and management expertise required to run a project of this scale.

"Again, it is noteworthy that the architectural design and site management responsibilities have been carried out by Bermudians."