One year after John Gray High School’s grand opening, government is still struggling to move forward with the final phases of the project, which has stretched on for more than 15 years and already cost tens of millions of dollars.
Completion of the two remaining projects at the George Town campus have encountered delays, an Education Ministry spokesperson confirmed on Sunday.
The John Gray High School Project C is facing a six-month delay “primarily due to logistic issues related to Project A, which impacted both Projects B and C,” the spokesperson, in response to Cayman Compass queries, said on Sunday via email.
Project A was completing the new John Gray High School, Project B was the repurposing the former George Hicks High School site, and Project C is demolishing the CIFEC campus and completing the new high school sports fields.
The spokesperson said the necessary repairs at the existing George Hicks site have further extended the timeline for Project B, which includes the relocation of CIFEC and other users from the Walkers Road site.
“Project C, which involves constructing a sports field, cannot commence until the relocation is complete. The Ministry of Education is committed to delivering a fully functional John Gray High School campus and is actively working to commence Project C by July 2024,” the spokesperson said.
Government, through a tender on its public procurement portal Bonfire, is seeking contractors for Project C of the campus, which includes the demolition of the Cayman Islands Further Education Centre campus and completion of the new high school sports fields.
Work began on the overall project in 2008 before stalling several times, causing increases its budget until the campus’s completion last year.
The multi-million-dollar ‘state-of-the-art’ high school in George Town was officially opened last March with much fanfare and celebration, though its final phase was yet to be completed.
Sporting facilities
Public Works Department’s Major Projects Office, which has issued the tender on behalf of the Ministry of Education, said it is seeking a general contractor for this phase of the project.
“Project C comprises of the demolition, asbestos removal, ground preparation, drainage, underground ducting, install the new sports playing field facilities, provide the MUGAs (multi-use games areas), basketball/netball courts, together with any ‘fixed’ equipment and fencing,” the tender invitation stated.
It added that the general contractor will be employed directly by the ministry throughout the duration of the project, concluding after the 12-month post-completion defects liability period.
A multi-disciplined consultancy design team, appointed by the ministry, the tender bid said, will be retained for the duration of the works, and all design information will be provided to the general contractor.
No cost for this phase has been disclosed.
The submission deadline for bids is Friday, 10 May, with an anticipated execution-of-agreement date of Friday, 28 June 2024.
Long road to project completion
In 2020, the Ministry of Education said the final phases of the new John Gray High School could cost more than $106 million.
In October 2019, KPMG’s outline business case for completing the John Gray project was approved by the steering committee and it presented options on how to proceed for each of three defined phases.
The first of the three projects had been approved for $76.37 million, with the limit of all three projects a total of $106.2 million, Ministry of Education Deputy Chief Officer Wilbur Welcome had previously said.
By 2012, $54.4 million had been spent on the school, and about $8.8 million was spent to finish the school gymnasium ahead of the 2017 election.
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In terms of delay, hot on the heels of this project is the N Church St link Rd,, a much simpler task.