Anglin flying in to Cayman Brac to assess costly school project

Rolston Anglin would be forgiven for having a sense of deja vu.

More than a decade after he last held the post, Cayman’s new education minister, once again, finds himself inheriting responsibility for the ballooning budget of a controversial high-school construction project.

When he last took on the role in 2009, it was the John Gray and Clifton Hunter high-school projects, which ended up costing the country close to $300 million. This time, it is the Cayman Brac High School, with a starting budget of $50 million.

“The irony is not lost on me,” said Anglin in an interview with CompassTV’s Forefront talk show.

“Twelve years later, here I am again, and here we have another controversial schools project.”

His comments came as aerial footage, shot for the Compass, showed the extent to which the school project has progressed in a short space of time.

Anglin, who took his instruments of office last Friday, resuming a role he last held in 2013, said he is getting up to speed on the Brac project and will fly out to the sister island this week.

He said there is no argument that the island is in need of new facilities but he believes there is scope to cut costs.

“What we now have to do is we have to look at what the total cost is and ensure that is in line with what we believe delivers value for money,” he said.

Citing the construction of a new, similarly sized, private school in Grand Cayman for 200 students – with a budget of around $15 million – he said there were likely “a lot of opportunities for cost saving” without compromising the needs of students on the Brac.

He acknowledged that contracts would already have been signed. The Compass reported late last year that Arch and Godfrey and McAlpine had been selected as the preferred bidder on the project after a final business case was approved by Cabinet, with an estimated budget of around $50 million.

Aerial footage shot for the Compass shows that construction is already under way. An adjacent housing block for workers has already been completed, at a cost of $8.5 million.

And the new  school site – on the Bluff next to the Cayman Brac Sports Complex – was a hive of activity last week with work crews getting the structure of the new school buildings in place.

Nonetheless, Anglin believes there will be scope for compromise.

“When government goes in an open and honest way with contractors and says, ‘Here is the new envelope, here is the budget we have to live within’, a lot of the time, contractors are going to work along with the government.

“Now, sometimes, they may be kicking and screaming, but they will work along with the government,” he said.

Anglin, who is also finance minister, said he had been inundated with messages about the project.

“I have to put on two hats, right? I have to put on my minister of education hat. But on this one, the cry is coming from a public finance standpoint.”

He said he would make an announcement soon on the status of the project once he has been fully briefed.