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$170M Golden Grove Secondary handed over
Ivor Allen hands over the keys to Regional Executive Officer Pauline Lucas, while Head Mistress Dolores Benjamin and Regional Education Officer Tiffany Favourite-Harvey look on
Yesterday, contractor of Golden Grove Secondary School (GGSS), Ivor Allen, officially handed over the keys to the newly constructed building to Regional Executive Officer (REO), Ms Pauline Lucas in the presence of Regional Education Officer, Ms. Tiffany Favourite-Harvey and Headmistress of the School, Ms Dolores Benjamin.
Allen, who is the Managing Director of Ivor Allen Contracting Services, constructed the school at the tune of $170, 203,347 with the funding coming from the Government of Guyana, the Region Four administration disclosed.
The construction of the school commenced last year, and according to the contractor, his company is excited and honoured to have been entrusted with the responsibility of constructing the school. “When we first started I thought that we were embarking on an impossible task, as the area identified was a complete swamp, however as time progressed and with due diligence, we soon realised that it was a project that we can complete in a timely manner, and of great quality,” Allen said.
He noted that wanting to deliver quality and of superior standards, they embarked to ensure that they constructed the school at their best.
“We are happy with our finished product and I am overwhelmed to know that the REO and others are very impressed with our work,” he said. Allen disclosed that over 90 percent of the workforce came from the Golden Grove village community.
“We sought to ensure that over 90% of our workforce working on this school came from this very community as we wanted to ensure that the community benefited in more ways than one,” he said
He urged the Head Mistress to implore on her students to value what they have, noting that they are blessed to have such facilities, but stressed that students must protect and safeguard the investment made by the RDC.
“You are blessed here to have such quality and investment in your region. However, let me urge you HM to get the students to realise that what they have here should be protected and saved as we want to see this building last for a very long time,” he said.
Allen, in congratulating the REO and Regional Education Officer, expressed satisfaction at the very high professional approach towards the project, noting, “You’re privileged to have a school with all the amenities, I trust that every efforts would be made in safeguarding it,” he said.
Regional Education Officer Harvey was overcome with emotions as she expressed her heartfelt thanks to the REO for what she described as being her ‘timely and appropriate intervention’ in rebuilding the school.
“We were waiting patiently and eagerly for this day, as today we are very happy to witness this moment as from September this year instead of just some 400 students crammed into a building we will see over 1000 students spaciously seated in this excellently constructed building with a number of features,” she stressed.
She added, “REO, I am overjoyed as finally we have gotten this school completed.
“We at the department are very excited and grateful to you for helping us to have this school, as I can tell you that it immediately solves a number of overcrowding issues at several other schools,” she said. Harvey noted that while Golden Grove Secondary currently has 400-odd students, the newly-built school will comprise some 1000-odd students.
As such, she disclosed that students from other schools would be drawn so as to help in increasing Golden Grove Secondary population. “Right now I can boldly say that the overcrowding that we have at three other schools will be remedied immediately with this school now and I am very happy as we are able to solve several issues affecting other schools with this building,” Harvey said.
REO Lucas expressed what she dubbed as her complete satisfaction with the quality and level of work that was done. She thanked the contractor for completing the project in a timely manner while congratulating him fir the very high quality of work. “There is no doubt that the quality and standard of work here is certainly very high, I am very impressed and this is the kind of work that makes us at the Region very happy and proud that contractors executing projects are doing it to the highest possible standards,” she said.
“Today the students of Golden Grove Secondary can proudly look at their school and know that with an enhanced environment it will result in better grades at exams,” Lucas concluded.
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