13,000 more laptops coming from China

Nov 02, 2011 News

…recipients to begin collection on Friday

The Government’s One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) Programme is progressing smoothly and according to sources, another 13,000 are being loaded in China with its destination being Guyana.
The second batch of laptops are scheduled to leave China next week Thursday and are expected to arrive here by the following Monday.
The first batch of 5,000 laptops under the initiative, arrived in the country on Friday last and are currently being stored at a bond described to be the most sophisticated in Guyana.
The devices are currently undergoing sample tests on one in about every 50.
They are also being inventoried and are being assigned to the applicants who have already been verified.
This newspaper understands that on Friday the first recipient of a laptop under the OLPF initiative will receive their device.
Meanwhile, contrary to previous reports, persons that have lost one of the devices received under the programme will not be made to repay.

Minister Nadir and OLPF Senior Project Manager Sesh Sukhdeo inspect one of the laptops that arrived recently

When the first of laptops had arrived in Guyana and were unveiled at the Laparkan Depot at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, Minister with responsibility for the programme, Manzoor Nadir, witnessed the occasion which he called a major milestone.
OLPF Senior Project Manager Sesh Sukhdeo at the time had reminded that following the launch of the programme, along with its related components such as the tender process, some 44,000 applications were obtained, 19,000 of which have been verified to date.
He noted that the verification process continues and that there are teams undertaking this venture on a daily basis.
“We will be delivering these laptops commencing next week across the country…(the process) will go in a planned manner…in a phased manner,” Sukhdeo had informed.
He pointed out, too, that the supplier that won the contract to supply the devices had 60 days to do so but they have fulfilled this aspect of its mandate with ample time to spare.
Nadir reiterated the government’s position that the programme is not a part of an election gimmick.
The laptops which have landed in Guyana already cost some US$1.4M, according to Nadir.
He assured that the process has been very meticulously rolled out with a young and professional staff that operates from the Secretariat.
“While the government is very proud to fulfill a commitment and a promise, the exercise (last Friday) is really proof that this thing has been well planned.”
Speaking to the skeptics Nadir assured that, “this is not the end…it is the beginning of the first 27,000 that the government has procured.”
There are 35 hubs across the eight Regions that are also expected to be up and running by this weekend where persons will be trained and will be all eligible to use the hubs free of cost.
The two regions that are yet to have hubs activated are Region Eight and Region Nine.
The challenges in these areas, according to officials, are the unavailability of a constant supply of reliable electricity as well as internet connectivity.