The Vigilant Political Action Committee (VPAC) has called for a formal review of Avinash Contracting’s performance on the delayed $1.7 billion Karasabai Secondary School and for the company to be considered for debarment from future public contracts if the evidence and procurement rules warrant it.
In a statement, the committee also demanded that government disclose whether liquidated damages have been imposed and provide a firm completion date for the Region Nine school, which was contracted in February 2023 for completion within two years.
VPAC said reports reaching it indicated that children continued to learn in inadequate conditions, including under a tree and a benab, while the new facility remained unfinished.
“This is not just simply another delayed construction project. It is about our children whose education should not have to wait while contractors miss their deadlines and the country waits for answers,” the committee stated.
The project’s original timetable and intended scope were outlined in Stabroek News on February 22, 2023. The newspaper reported that the contract had been signed and the sod turned the previous day, with Avinash Contracting expected to complete the school within two years.
The planned ten-building complex included a teaching block, science laboratories, technical and vocational education facilities, a combined home economics and cafeteria area, teachers’ quarters and an outdoor sitting forecourt. It was designed to accommodate 500 students in classrooms and 250 in dormitories.
VPAC said President Irfaan Ali had acknowledged the delay in April 2026 and announced a three-month extension because of weather and other difficulties, warning that liquidated damages would apply thereafter.
It called for an account of what had happened since that extension.
“The public now deserves an update: Has the extended deadline passed? Have liquidated damages been imposed? What action has been taken to ensure that the school is completed?” the committee asked.
Concerns about the impact on students had already been raised publicly last year. In an October 12, 2025 report, Stabroek News cited a statement from the opposition We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) that approximately 352 secondary students were being accommodated at Karasabai Primary School.
WIN alleged that overcrowding had forced some classes into a benab and makeshift spaces, while the compound lacked running water and relied on pit latrines. It also reported that the absence of dormitories forced students from outlying communities to find guardians, and that teachers had no staff room. Those conditions were described in the party’s statement at the time.
VPAC said it had also received complaints about other unfinished projects and repeated extensions involving the contractor. It called for those complaints to be examined and for the public to be informed of any established failures and resulting action.
The committee stressed that any blacklisting or debarment must follow the proper process.
Where contractual breaches were established, it said, government should enforce the available remedies, including liquidated damages and applicable performance bond provisions.
“Government must stop treating repeated extensions as a substitute for delivery,” VPAC stated.
The community’s wait for a separate secondary school predates the current contract. DPI reported in February 2019 that the then APNU+AFC government had assured residents that a secondary school and dormitory would be built by 2020.
At that time, the secondary department at Karasabai Primary accommodated 173 students from the village and surrounding communities. Residents had raised the financial burden of accommodating students from distant villages with guardians. DPI reported that 30 guardians were hosting 79 pupils.
DPI subsequently reported in April 2023 that construction of the new school had commenced, again outlining a two-year completion period. In February 2025, it reported that works were progressing on Karasabai Secondary alongside schools at Tuschen and Waramuri.
VPAC argued that continued delays carried consequences for students, teachers and parents, particularly in hinterland communities where access to secondary education remained difficult.
“The children of Karasabai deserve a proper school and not another deadline,” the committee said.
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