Started in 2008, UTT Tamana campus to be completed in 2022

Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Minister Clarence Rambharat said the UTT Tamana Campus is due to be completed in 2022. He said the campus, on which construction began in 2008, was currently at 89 per cent completion.

Rambharat was responding to a question on behalf of the Minister of Education in the Senate on Tuesday, posed by Opposition Senator Wade Mark, who wanted to know why the cost of the project increased from $975.5 million to $1.5 billion in 2017.

Rambharat said, “The question is based on a false premise, as the budget increased in 2013, not 2017. In July 2013, the government at the time agreed that the cost of the signature building complex would be increased to $1.501 billion. That increase was in 2013, not 2017.”

Mark further asked if the government planned to terminate its contractual arrangement with the China Jiangsu International Economic and Technical Co-operation Group Ltd, which is the contractor on the project.

“This project was supposed to be completed three years ago. Given the fact that this company has underperformed, can the minister indicate what are the factors or reasons why the government is not looking to terminate services of this particular company, given the underperformance of that company?”

Rambharat responded that the government did not plan to terminate the arrangement with the contractor.

“Sections of the east block of the signature building complex, which his (Mark's) administration increased the budget to $1.501 billion in July 2012, are already completed and is actually occupied by the staff of the UTT.

"Additional areas are scheduled to be completed in this early part of 2021 and occupied. The ongoing activities include the work on the west block, the academic teaching and learning area, the auditorium, the central plaza, the main cafeteria and the food court area. So the government has been working with the contractor and the stakeholders committed to the completion of this project and it is currently at 89 per cent completion.”