Berkeley project critics, including Auditor General Larry Dennis, are playing politics and indulging in headline grabbing speculation, claimed Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott.

Mr. Scott, asked to respond to allegations made last week by Opposition MP Trevor Moniz last week, said that he, at least, had to make "sober pronouncements".

"I think the new second senior school project is a good target for the opposition and anybody who wants to get their name in the press," the Minister said.

"You don't have to have any facts you don't have to know anything about it. Mr. (Erwin) Adderley maintained recently that the project would end up costing $100 million. Yet the auditor concurred with our view that it would be $300,000 over so we can't really put stock in Adderley's utterances and the same is true for Mr. Moniz - they don't know the facts and they don't need to know the facts to get a headline."

Mr. Scott said that the massive construction project had been "affected by the rigours of a very large project" and "it has slipped behind the schedule that everyone would have liked to see it on".

But a number of factors, such as the impact of the terrorist attacks on the United States on shipping and the need to revise specifications for steel used in the project had caused delays, he said.

"It slows down the ability of the general contractor to go ahead. It doesn't change the cost of the steel but it certainly impacts on the cost of the project. You've never heard the Auditor General or the Opposition mention these facts, they just say the contractor can't manage this project and the Minister is giving us false promises."

As Minister, he said, he would not be drawn into speculation as to the project's final end date because there had been no discussion or agreement with the contractor to change the completion date.

"We have a document saying it will be concluded September 2003. Until that document is amended it would be inappropriate for me to say otherwise...When we get together with the general contractor and we jointly agree that date may change, or will change, then I can give a completion date. The auditor can do it , he doesn't have to be right, the Opposition can do it. And Mr. Moniz can do it, he doesn't have to tell the truth - he's a lawyer... I as Minister have been most sober in my pronouncement."

Mr. Moniz had criticised the Human Rights Commission and Government for "copping out" over a row between labour leader Derrick Burgess and Auditor General Larry Dennis.

Mr. Dennis had complained to the HRC over remarks made by Mr.. Burgess and the human rights watchdog released a statement saying that while the remarks were unpleasant, the complaint could not be acted upon under the country's human rights laws.

Mr. Moniz claimed that the entire row had had been set up as a distraction from problems being faced on the construction site.

Last week Mr. Scott fired off some claims of his own.

"Every time it's the Auditor General who has gone to the media," said the Minister. "He has speculated quite extraordinarily for an Auditor General. In Canada, the UK and in most jurisdictions Auditors General are professional. They speak through the report... They let the numbers speak for them. They do a report and you don't hear from them again. In our case our Auditor General can always be found in the midst of controversy... My view is that he is actually politicking with his post. Stop and think of the number of times his name is front and centre."

He added : "So it's understandable that Mr. Burgess would take great exception to how the union would be treated by the Auditor General, in a most political way... Mr. Burgess just made an observation and the paper took an exception to it. When you come down to it the Berkeley site has been a political football for many of its detractors. The project is on budget at this moment, it was tendered appropriately and correctly. We have all the necessary protocols in place. So I don't know why they are saying it's a disaster, that it's being mismanaged - none of that is in the auditor's report... but why let facts get in the way ?"