Government is trying to shirk responsibility for the Island's new secondary school by "fobbing off" requests for information, an Opposition MP has claimed.

Shadow Works and Engineering Minister Erwin Adderley said the United Bermuda Party had never had a gripe with the general contractor of the new $70 million Berkeley Institute, but only wanted Government to be open about the project.

And he said Government's refusal to make public the building timetable of the school - suggesting people ask Pro-Active instead - was an easy way to wriggle out of the spotlight.

He said: "I'm of the opinion that what Works and Engineering minister Alex Scott is trying to do is deliberately divert the attention from himself to make it look as though any concerns raised are a direct attack on Pro-Active.

"They are trying to make out that we are only asking questions because Pro-Active is a black company and that we would be saying nothing if the company was white.

"But this is not an issue of black or white. This is about what is wrong and right. Pro-Active does not have an agreement with me or the public, so it does not have to answer to us.

"However, Government does, therefore it should be providing us with the information we request.

"Government will be doing Pro-Active a disservice by not providing the public with the assurance that everything is OK by giving some specifics."

Mr. Adderley and his UBP colleague Michael Dunkley have called for the construction programme of Berkeley to be made public, and for Mr. Scott to say whether the project was running to schedule as of September 1.

They made the request after concerns were raised regarding the progress of the site.

Construction firms have claimed that the site on Berkeley Road is not as busy as it should be at such a vital time, with one firm claiming that about 100 workers should now be present on the plant.

Pro-Active claims there are between 40 and 60 people on the site, however, last week, The Royal Gazette visited the area and saw only a handful.

But Mr. Scott said, although Government owned the site, it did not manage it and therefore would not make public any construction deadlines. Instead, he said anyone looking for detail on the project should go to the general contractor.

In turn, Pro-Active said it would only release information if it could be proved that it was a usual request of contractors, and said the controversy surrounding the new school was unheard of, and the result of racial bias.

Either way, Mr. Adderley said, it did not look as though anyone was prepared to release the construction timetable. He added: "Pro-Active is not the first black company to have big construction contracts in Bermuda, and this is not about the company or what colour the workers are. I have the utmost confidence in black people carrying out this job.

"This is about the progress of the site and concerns the public have. Government has ultimate responsibility for the project and should be supervising and monitoring it.

By simply passing people onto Pro-Active, Mr. Scott is trying to duck the issue. He is simply fobbing us off.

"If he has a construction programme, which he definitely should have, then he should make it public."

arency, so it is incumbent on them to show us that this $70 million is being spent adequately and monitored. Is that too much to ask?"

Mr. Adderley said Government would probably point the finger back at the UBP and say that the previous Government had ran into difficulties when Sea-Land Construction was building the prison at Dockyard.

But he said the new Government should learn from the UBP's past mistakes.

He added: "We should not be making the same mistakes again. I know that the prison site should probably have been monitored, too, but let's not see it happen again."

Pro-Active's president and general manager Arthur Ebbin said the project was not running behind schedule and that there was much activity on the site.

He said: "We will only give information that has been standardly asked of any other contractor in Bermuda that has been building similar projects.

"If they can prove to me that the request is natural in Bermuda, then fine. But I am not going to answer any questions that are not standardised. This is ridiculous. This is unheard of."