US$218,000 contract inked to facilitate upgrade of TVET facilities

Jan 15, 2019 News

A US$218,050 contract was inked yesterday, to facilitate the preparation of final designs and provision of construction supervision services for the expansion and refurbishment of three Technical, Vocational, Education and Training (TVET) facilities at the secondary level.
These facilities are located at Fellowship (Region Three), Beterverwagting (Region Four) and Hopetown (Region Five).
Inking the contract were officials of the Ministry of Education and Vikab Engineering Consultants Limited in association with Vikab (Guyana) Limited, and JAIN Consultants of Trinidad and Tobago Limited.
This undertaking is Lot ‘B’ of the Enhance Learning Component of the Guyana Skills Development and Employability Project (GSDEP). According to Project Coordinator of GSDEP, Mr. Terrence Siebs, the project has been long in the making. It is now at the stage where there is an experienced design engineering consultancy firm on board.
He said that the GSDEP is a project funded by the Caribbean Development Bank through a loan and a grant agreement and funding from the Government of Guyana.
Explaining this phase of the project, Siebs said, “The scope is to create very detailed designs and one of the interesting things about this project is that it’s not a case where the consultants prepare something and submit it to the Ministry.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Ms. Adele Clarke and Vikab Managing Director, Mr. Hardat Punwasee, signing the contracts yesterday.

“The Ministry prepared a very robust Terms of Reference after numerous consultations with different stakeholders. We already have a design review committee on board and apart from that, the consultant at each stage of the design has to do a presentation of the design.”
Explaining this phase of the project, Siebs said, “The scope is to create very detailed designs and one of the interesting things about this project is that it’s not a case where the consultants prepare something and submit it to the Ministry.
The Ministry prepared very robust Terms of Reference after numerous consultations with different stakeholders. We already have a design review committee on board. Apart from that, the consultant at each stage of the design has to do a presentation of the design.”
The design phase for the project is three months, after which there will be a tender phase followed by a construction phase for one year which should be rolled out in July.
Additionally, Siebs said that there is another component of the project which entails the training of teachers which will make the education system better.

He said that at present there is a programme at the University of Guyana where there are 24 young people who are being trained in different engineering disciplines, engineering, civil and mechanical.
Two persons will also attend the Barbados Community College this year to study fine arts and graphic design.
When the three labs have been refurbished, the Project Coordinator noted, training will be offered in the subject areas of Masonry/Plumbing/Steel Fixing, Electrical Installation, Furniture Making/Carpentry and Joinery, Garment Making, House Keeping and Graphic Design.
Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry, highlighted the importance of the project not only to the Ministry of Education but Guyana in its entirety regarding the issue of employability and skills development, both of which the Education Minister said are important.
Minister Henry said that it was intended to have the project begin in 2018 but due to some delays it is now being executed.
She said, “I trust that the young people of this country will truly benefit from this project. I trust that we are able to keep up with the timelines and the demands of this project. I certainly look forward to the outcomes which would be beneficial to the entire country.”
Representing the consultancy firm yesterday was its Managing Director, Mr. Hardat Punwasee. He said that his firm will ensure that the client, the Ministry of Education is not disappointed with the quality of work and promised to complete their work within the timeframe given.
Punwasee signed the contract on behalf of the consultancy firm while Permanent Secretary, Ms. Adele Clarke, signed on behalf of the Ministry of Education.