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$10.5M still missing: Region One Yet to Recover Overpayment for Abandoned School Project
(Kaieteur News) – Nearly three years later, the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region One has yet to recover more than $10.5 million in overpayments made for the Oronoque Primary School project at Port Kaituma—a failure once again flagged by Auditor General (AG) Deodat Sharma in his 2024 Report.
The $10.5 million in works which the RDC overpaid for which was documented in the Auditor General’s 2022 Report.
The auditor stated that an award for the construction of the primary school was made in sum of $24.668 million by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), and at the end of December 2022, the sum of $19.734 million was paid to the contractor. The Report detailed that a physical verification conducted on July 14, 2023 revealed that the site was abandoned and the works were incomplete and an overpayment in the sum of $10.557 million was discovered. “At the time of reporting in September 2025, the overpaid sum was still not recovered,” he highlighted in his 2024 Report.
The Regional Administration responded to the Auditor, by acknowledging this finding. Further, the Audit Office recommended that the Head of Budget Agency take steps to recover the overpayments and put proper systems in place to avoid recurrences.
Kaieteur News had reported that in his 2022 Report, the AG first highlighted the overpayment in works. Based on the Audit Office inspections, measurements and calculations on the works at the time, Sharma documented 17 works relating to walls, floor, painting and finishes, and sanitary facilities that the Regional Administration overpaid for.
In addition to that, in that 2022 Report, the AG detailed that during the verification of the project, sub-standard works were observed on the construction of the 6-inch kerb wall, with “blocks not being laid leveled”, while the block work to accommodate the fill material and floor slab was “poorly done and out of line” and will require adjustments.
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