ABOUT 700 high school students may be displaced this coming school year if the $6 million Saipan Southern High School in Koblerville is not finished before the scheduled opening of classes in August, according to education officials.
The project contractor, Tano Group, has asked the government to extend the construction period for 90 more days to finish the landscaping of the campus.
But according to Roman Benavente, vice chairman of the Board of Education and the head of the committee on capital improvement projects, the school project is already way beyond the target completion date as it was supposed to be finished as early as January.
The school has to open in August, he said.
The buildings are already 98 percent complete, and the Public School System does not see the need to extend the contractor’s contract for 90 more days just to do the landscape, he added.
According to Benavente, the contractor can complete the landscape between now and August.
“They say they cannot do anything without water. But how can they say that when they have already built the buildings. And even if there’s no water they can start shifting or spreading the dirt to speed up the work,” Benavente said.
He said the delay would likely create a major problem.
“The (education) commissioner has already made out plans to distribute the number of students. But how can we send them to this school if the landscape is not yet done. How can you guarantee the safety of the kids with this kind of an environment?” Benavente said.
He said Tano has a history of not completing the landscape of a school project. He cited the case of the Sinapalo public school on Rota which Tano constructed.
“They never really finish their job. The landscaping in Sinapalo—they never really finished that. But Sinapalo is operational now. There is no choice. Where will the kids hold their classes?” Benavente said.
In a separate interview, Bob Brackens, a contractor manager at Tano, said their work is done as far as the construction of the buildings is concerned.
Brackens said PSS should provide the water if it wants the landscaping project to be finished since it is the owner of the building.
“We need water. It’s not our responsibility to put water on the site. And it’s not delayed. This job is done,” he said.
“The water should have been provided to us in January. The water application went on Jan. 8, along with the power. It’s the owner’s responsibility to deal with those issues. Give us water. That’s all we need,” he added.
Peter Leau, the former vice principal of Marianas High School who is now assigned as the principal of Saipan Southern High School, said the contractor should finish everything by August.
