Manickchand demands quality, timely work on furniture

Jun 24, 2014 News

…will apply penalties under the relevant contracts

Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand and Permanent Secretary, Delma Nedd on Friday last held a meeting with contractors who will be building furniture for schools across Guyana.

: Education Minister Priya Manickchand (centre) during the meeting on Friday last

Manickchand called the meeting to discuss the importance of contractors meeting their contractual obligations, specifically emphasizing the importance of them delivering the furniture on time and it being of acceptable quality.
Manickchand pointed out to the meeting that the Government of Guyana, in understanding the importance of education in a country’s development, allocated approximately $300M, so that every child can be comfortably seated in the classroom and poised to receive quality education.
The Minister said the most desirous outcome of the meeting would be that quality furniture is delivered on time but emphasized that if these requirements are not met, the Government will apply penalties under the relevant contracts.
The contractors undertook to do their level best to meet the conditions they agreed to under the various contracts and expressed a deep understanding of the necessity to provide good furniture in a timely manner.
This is not the first time Manickchand took a stern position against contractors undertaking works for the Education Ministry.
Shortly after taking the reins of the Education Ministry, Manickchand had publicly stated that failure on the part of contractors to complete projects within the stipulated contractual period could see penalties being swiftly applied.
This was following a similar meeting with contractors at which point in time she had categorically stated her position of zero tolerance for any unwarranted delay in meeting deadlines.
A total of $960M has been budgeted for the Ministry to complete construction and rehabilitation of Nursery, Primary and Secondary Schools for 2014.
This figure also includes the extension of schools, science and information laboratories as well as the payment of retention.