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Basic Needs Trust rewarded mid-term bonus of US$3M
Participants at the Basic Needs workshop at Princess Hotel yesterday
– Govt. warns contractors to deliver high quality… and on time
By Leonard Gildarie
Government has warned that it will be keeping a stricter eye on the contractors working on projects for them to ensure that quality is maintained and they are completed on time.
The warning was issued by Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, yesterday at the opening of a workshop on “Management For Development Results” for stakeholders of the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) Programme, at the Princess Hotel, Providence, East Bank Demerara.
The launching of the workshop, sponsored by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), also saw the disclosure that the BNTF programme in Guyana has been so highly regarded for its track record, that it received a mid-term bonus of US$3M to plug into additional projects.
According to Michael Singh, BNTF’s Project Manager (ag) for Guyana, the workshop is timely since it would serve to underscore the importance of managing for development results, where there is a shift from outputs to outcomes, monitoring and evaluation and targets and impacts.
With the recent BNTF 5 programme completed, Singh acknowledged that under new funding available for the BNTF 6 programme, there will be the additional responsibility and challenges to commit all funds and implement sub-projects in a shorter time than the previous one.
The official disclosed that under a Poverty Reduction Action Plan (PRAP), the BNTF would be embarking on several sub-projects including day-care centres and vulnerable groups.
Already, the fund has attracted a US$8.7M grant for this leg of the programme and implementation of the projects will be starting by the first quarter of this year.
Basic Needs is hoping to commit at least 80% of the total grant by mid-year.
Participants for the workshop came from Jamaica, Turks and Caicos, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, and Canada.
Meanwhile, Denise Noel-DeBique, Portfolio Manager of the Social Sector Division of the CDB, noted that increasingly, the attention is on how players in the developmental sector will cooperate.
The BNTF, she said, was facing challenges to increase its effectiveness during the last programme. With the government of Canada providing funding to make critical changes focused on accountability, among other areas, it was found in some cases that implementing these changes were only successful sometimes.
The problems included the unwillingness of some stakeholders to address controversial issues such as gender equality and community participation. There were also some resistances to move from short-term results to more long-term community results.
A mid-term evaluation of the Basic Needs 5 had found that there was a greater need to review operations issues which hinder performances of some projects and for communication and support to sustain stakeholder involvement.
In his remarks, Minister Singh, noted that the workshop is timely, since Guyana is the largest beneficiary of BNTF countries. Several projects including water wells for Meadow bank and the Grove/Diamond area are but a few examples of the BNTF programmes.
He stressed that government will be paying more keen attention to ensure that contractors deliver their projects on time, and of the highest quality.
The objective is to maximize on the effectiveness of the development effort of projects, the Minister said.
This year, government is intent on expanding its spending on the social sector.
However, the fact that resources from funding agencies and others are becoming scarcer, it is becoming more essential to ensure that every cent counts.
As such, government has indicated that it will not shy away from using penalty clauses in contracts to force contractors to deliver.
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