More than four months later… Almost $16M paid, but auto dealership still to deliver school bus to Region 10

Jan 08, 2019 News

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In an effort to effectively address transportation woes being encountered by several students from far-flung communities within Region 10, the Regional Democratic Council [RDC] last year decided to purchase a new 30-seater Coaster bus from an automotive company [name withheld].
According to Regional Executive Officer [REO], Mr. Orrin Gordon, it was expected that the vehicle would have been delivered, and in operation for the start of the September 2018 academic year. However, more than four months later, despite paying the auto dealership almost $16M for the vehicle, the Region still awaits its arrival.
This state of affairs was recently brought to the fore by Gordon, who, along with a number of councillors, has found the situation to be particularly disturbing.
The REO in addressing an RDC meeting last Thursday vented his disappointment with what he has dubbed an “undue” delay by the automotive dealership.
According to Gordon, the dilemma has resulted in increased challenges for not only the students, but the Education department, as they have been forced to seek alternative arrangements in ensuring that the students can be transported to and from their respective destinations.
The bus was purchased to facilitate the transport of students along the Coomacka to Linden route.
“I am saying that frankly, I am disappointed with the manner in how [the dealership] has been handling this matter,” said Gordon, as he revealed that the need for the bus materialised after another bus which was donated to the Region under the David ‘G’ initiative quickly encountered grave difficulties. This was compounded by difficulties in sourcing parts for the said vehicle to facilitate its repair.
According to Gordon, attempts were made to seek the support of the donor of the bus who was unable to assist in securing the needed spare parts.
“We made the purchase… and they [the auto dealer] later showed us a different bus from what we had originally wanted and I informed them that the bus that they were suggesting is one that we would encounter severe difficulties with when seeking the spare parts; therefore, we refused that bus. They were told that we wanted the Coaster 30-seater, and up to now we are unable to have the bus that we paid for,” REO Gordon told the meeting.
Regional Chairman, Renis Morian, did not hesitate to express his frustration, too, over the matter. In fact, he queried as to what arrangements were put in place to ensure that the students are not affected by the delay.

However, Gordon did express optimism that the matter would soon be resolved but the Region has also been dealing with a delay of a duty free concession from the Guyana Revenue Authority [GRA] for the vehicle. This delay was questioned by some councillors to which Regional Chairman Morian sought to address. He disclosed that based on personal experience the Duty Free concession can at times take a lengthy period. In fact, he disclosed that had it not been for the excellent relationship he shares with some GRA officials, his wait for two past of duty-free concessions could have been much longer.
“I know the process, and I can tell you that it can take as much as two months to get your duty free letter, but I was fortunate to not wait this long, because I knew persons within GRA who could have assisted me in speeding things up,” the Regional Chairman said. He promised to intervene personally if the delay persisted past yesterday.
He nevertheless lamented that “We have school opening and we still can’t get the bus that was paid for since September last year, that is really unacceptable, and I am being open and saying that I am not pleased, because the welfare and interest of our region’s children should always be our number one priority,” the Regional Chairman declared.
When quizzed as to what systems have been put place for the new school term, which commenced yesterday, the Region’s Regional Education Officer, Rabindra Singh, pointed out that the department has a Pitbull bus that will be used to temporarily transport the school children.
Singh said too that he has already put the relevant systems in place and would be reaching out to both parents and students during the course of the coming days in informing them how the arrangements would work regarding the Pitbull bus doing the pickups.
“I have already put systems in place, as the Pitbull bus would have to transport the students until we can get the new bus that was bought,” he said. He disclosed that because of the number of students who would be affected with the delay of the new bus, the Pitbull bus will be making at least two trips so as to ensure that no child is affected.

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