The government has launched a tender bid invitation for phase two of the emergency shelter on the Brac dubbed the “Hurricane Hilton”.
Phase one of the shelter on the Bluff was awarded to Island Builders Co., which won the bid to lay the 27,000-square-feet foundation for the site.
Work on the project began in May this year.
The next phase involves construction of the shell of the building. The deadline for the receipt of bids for the second phase is noon, Friday, 7 October.
Work on the latest phase of the project is due to begin in early November 2011, with completion of the building shell scheduled by early May 2012, according to the tender invitation documents on the Central Tenders Committee website.
The government budgeted $1 million for the project in this year’s budget, $900,000 in last year’s budget and $500,000 in the 2009/2010 budget.
The completed two-storey building will be used as a shelter during hurricanes and will consist of a main hall and 80 private rooms.
The first phase attracted five bids to build the foundation for shelter’s main hall and cistern, with Islands Builders submitting the lowest, and winning, bid for $285,000.
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Has anyone thought of using this money to rebuild the Brac high school which is in dire condition. It could be built to hurricane specifications and used as a hurricane shelter if and when needed. This is a common practice here in Florida. The idea of spending millions of dollars on a dedicated hurricane shelter which, hopefully, will never or rarely be needed seems foolish when a new high school is needed so badly. You would get year-round utilization of a school/shelter and, therefore, a better use of the money which as we all know, is in short supply.