27 consultants vie to conduct new Harbour Bridge study, design

Dec 09, 2015 News

After a late start yesterday, bids were opened for a feasibility study and design for the new Demerara Harbour Bridge, at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), Ministry of Finance compound. There were 27 consultancy firms tendering for the project.

Of note was the predominance of foreign consultants. The few participating local consultants largely collaborated with the other firms. The contract attracted consultants from all around the world.

Also under the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, bids were opened for the construction of rip rap sea defence at Ruimzight, West Coast Demerara (WCD), Region 4. The engineer’s estimate was $97,108,000.

Under the Ministry of the Presidency, bids were also opened for the computerizing of the General Registrar Office records. This is a major undertaking, as it is estimated that some 4000 birth, death and marriage registration records must be entered daily. Six consultancy firms took up the challenge.

It is also understood that the project will target records dating from 1869 to 2015, to have them entered into the Civil Events Registration System (CERS). This will provide for a more automated process to generate certificates, verify, retrieve and store. A 100 percent accuracy rating is mandated from the firms for each entry, according to the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the project.

Meanwhile, under the Ministry of Education, bids were opened for the construction of the Aurora Primary School, Essequibo. The engineer’s estimate was $119,960,554.