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Govt halts $750M repairs on controversial High Street building
The David Granger-led administration has taken a decision to review the expenditure of some $750M to repair the High Street building that was at one time home to the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation.
An aerial shot of the complex located on High and Princes Streets, Georgetown.
This was according to the Minister of State Joseph Harmon, during the post-cabinet press briefing held at the Ministry of the Presidency on Friday.
“That is a project that is under review. Those sums were allocated but not spent because we are looking at the feasibility of actually spending that sum of money on that building. As recent as (Thursday), the matter came up at our conference and we have undertaken to conduct a review of that decision. So that is the current state of play with respect to the High Street building.”
An estimated $700M would have already been spent by the former administration to construct and carry out repairs to that building, located at High and Princes Streets, Georgetown.
It was said that the building will now house the Ministry of Social Protection.
The Ministry was listed as the procuring entity in the national newspapers a few days ago, inviting qualified contractors to bid for the project. The engineer’s estimate was stated to be $750M.
The complex was built in 2008 and would have come under intense scrutiny when numerous defects were noticed after its construction.
Kishan Bacchus Construction Company had carried out works on the foundation and on several other sections of the project. It was later revealed that the foundation contained sub-standard material and the ceiling was improperly designed.
The construction company would have secured the contract after the initial contractor backed out of the project. It is still unclear if anyone was penalised for the shoddy work.
The complex, which is approximately 65,000 square feet, is abandoned, with several sections overrun by vegetation.
A security guard was seen stationed at the building yesterday morning when this publication visited.
Last year, Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman disclosed that the Ministry of Public Infrastructure was examining how the current building could be used without posing a danger to people’s lives.
He said that the building continues to pose an embarrassment to the past administration – the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
Trotman had stated that the situation is so bad that the “very minimum of persons and furniture would have to be put in the building for it to be used,”
A forensic audit report ordered by Government last year, had found that the building involved the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), the state-owned entity which handles investments. NICIL’s negligence resulted in some $350M in taxpayers’ money being wasted, the forensic audit report stated.
The report has also revealed that Kishan Bacchus had operated without bond and owed over $50M for works he did not complete but had received payments.
It is still unclear if the contractor repaid this amount.
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