The troubled Berkeley Institute project is on target to be handed over for classes to start in January, Government has confirmed.

Sen. David Burch yesterday hit back at claims the heavily-delayed, massively over-budget new school would not hit the revised deadline of the start of 2006.

The Opposition said on Friday it was clear the site would not be completed by that date.

When quizzed, Education Minister Terry Lister said he could not comment on when the school would be ready or would start taking students.

This sparked fears of yet another delay for the controversial project, already $50 million over budget and more than two years behind schedule.

But Sen. Burch, Minister of Works, Engineering and Housing, stated categorically his department was on target to hand over the new secondary school to the Ministry of Education and Development ready for classes to begin in January, 2006.

He told a Press conference: ?I can state that 80 percent of the school has been handed over and the outfitting of the facility is well advanced.?

The Minister, however, was reluctant to give cast-iron guarantees on the hand-over date, after pointing to the specialist nature of the $121 million campus scheme.

?Not surprisingly, a project of this magnitude requires specialised craftsmen to install certain specialised equipment and there are challenges in marrying schedules to fit a tight timeframe.?

Asked if students would actually be working in the finished senior secondary school in January after the handover, he said that was an issue for the Education Minister.

That Department refused to comment last night, but understands it is reluctant to forecast when lessons will start because of possible building work delays and because the occupancy decision ultimately rests with the Berkeley Institute Board of Trustees. Board chairman Calvin White has already said the governing body was working with Government to occupy the school as soon as it was safe to do so.

Some education officials, however, have already cast doubt on lessons starting at the new site in early 2006.

Bermuda Union of Teachers general secretary Michael Charles said on Friday that next September would be a more sensible timeline, so teachers would not be rushed moving to the new site.

The school has been plagued by controversy since ground broke in June 2001 and a completion date of September 2003 was announced.

Since then the contractors have been changed and costs have spiralled.

Meanwhile, the Minister yesterday re-confirmed the new gym would not meet the January deadline, but said the sports facility was still pencilled in for a February completion.

The Minister then rounded on the United Bermuda Party and accused it of ?playing politics? by restating the scheme was $50 million over budget.

He said the total funding set aside for the project was $121,709,000 ? $50 million over the initial $71.5 million budget ? and that figure had not changed since it was approved in the 2005 Budget in March.

About $27 million of that sum included works not covered by the original contract, he added, including a new sewage pumping station and line, BELCO feed, land purchase and landscaping.

?These figures have been in the public domain for months and one has to ask why certain members of the Opposition continue to revisit this subject,? said Sen. Burch.

He said he thought that everyone knew the project was over-budget and did not see the point of ?rehashing? the information.

He said the opportunities for students attending the new school would be ?amazing? and, referring to recent criticism of the public education system, said this would help provide a level playing field.

Calling for unity on the long-running controversy, he added: ?We are on the threshold of presenting to Bermuda a state-of-the-art educational facility that will provide opportunities for our young people heretofore unseen in this country.

?Now is the time for all of us in this country to band together to ensure that all our children take advantage of the opportunities that will be offered by this first class educational institution.?

Sen. Burch said he soon hoped to be able to invite the media to tour the school, which he described as ?quite remarkable?.

He added that he was impressed with the progress of construction work.