ASHFIELD Eversley DeVent just might be the Works & Engineering Minister finally able to see the Berkeley project through to completion.

In September last year, while Acting Minister of Community Affairs & Sport, he offered consumers a list of guidelines following complaints of price gouging by unscrupulous retailers in the aftermath of Hurricane Fabian ? advice he perhaps should have shared with his Cabinet colleagues.

"Although this is a regrettably and arguably immoral circumstance, it is not necessarily illegal and not all retailers are guilty of exercising this practice," he was then quoted as saying in . And he advised consumers, in hiring contractors, masons and carpenters, to consider the following guidelines:

n Ask for three references of previous work.

n Get quotes in writing.

n When contacting the references, ask whether they were pleased with the work, if the project was finished on time and within budget, and if the contractor acted in a professional manner.

Two weeks ago, less than a month into his role as Minister of Works & Engineering, it fell to Mr. DeVent to inform the public that an extra $13 million was to be added to the cost of the new Berkeley Institute ? taking the total cost of the project to $101 million ? and that it would not be completed until at least a year after the original target date of September 2003.

Many felt that Mr. DeVent had been made the fall guy, taking the flak for a situation for which previous Works & Engineering Ministers, Premier Alex Scott and Education Minister Terry Lister, were responsible.

As voiced by Shadow Minister of Works & Engineering Patricia Gordon-Pamplin: "The Premier, Alex Scott, in his capacity as Works & Engineering Minister, debunked our claims that there would be delays. His replacement, Terry Lister, promised regular updates to the public, none of which were forthcoming.

"And now the new fall guy, inexperienced Minister Ashfield DeVent, has to come cap in hand to the public to beg on behalf of the Finance Minister for the public indulgence to pay for the serious incompetence of the now Premier and the PLP administration."

Mr. DeVent attended Prospect Primary and Warwick Academy before receiving further education at the Cable & Wireless Engineering College in Cornwall, western England. Following 14 years with Cable & Wireless, he became court correspondent for VSB and, with Ceola Wilson, host of a radio talk show.

In 2002, he beat out United Bermuda Party candidate Senator Leonard Santucci in a Pembroke East Central by-election made necessary by the death of former Tourism Minister David Allen. Citing his chief concerns as the environment, crime and drugs, he publicly called for the decriminalisation of marijuana.

During the last General Election, Mr. DeVent kept his seat in the House of Assembly, defeating UBP candidate Lawrence (Rocky) Fox. Named Minister without Portfolio in Premier Alex Scott's first Cabinet, he was handed the responsibilities of Works & Housing in January, in the reshuffle following the death of the late Finance Minister, Eugene Cox.