$160M in contracts signed in Region 6

May 04, 2022 News

– $42.5M handed over to 17 NDCs

Kaieteur News – The oxygen system at the New Amsterdam Hospital will soon be refurbished and works will commence on five roads in Region Six with the recent signing of six contracts to the tune of $160M. Additionally, government has handed over some $42M to 17 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) in the Region.
Among the road works to be completed is a street in Budhan Scheme, West Canje, Berbice and that contract was awarded to the Denis Tahal Engineering firm to the tune of $35,538,400M.
Another contract, valued at 25,965,000, was awarded to the Fizal Ali Contracting company to execute works on the No. 4 dam in Albion/Chesney, Corentyne, Berbice.
Quality Deliverer, another company, was awarded a contract valued at $17,116,380 to complete works on the Ballfield Street at Old Chesney; Premium Asphalt was awarded a contract of $24,537,140 for works to Suma Street, No.36 Village, while R. Ramcharitar Construction Enterprise was awarded a contract valued $18,300,900 to execute works on Grant 1806, Main Access Street.

From left: Vice Chairman, Zamal Hussain; Chairman, David Armogan; Local Government Minister, Nigel Dharamlall and Regional Executive Officer, Narindra Persaud.

Tasked with refurbishing the oxygen system at the New Amsterdam Hospital to the tune of $38,761,497 is Greenidge Refrigeration Electrical Services.
Additionally, $42.5M was handed over to 17 of the 18 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils in Region Six with the total support, via subvention, totalling approximately $90M. Although the paperwork was not completed, the three municipalities – namely Rose Hall, Corriverton and New Amsterdam – will be given a total of $54M.
At the recent signing ceremony, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall disclosed that through the Region Six Regional Democratic Council, the capital programme is $962M. He noted, “we would like to see the people of Region Six served well and I hope the chairman, vice chairman and the REO, who have the responsibility for the administration of our resources in this region, and many of you here are overseers, you are the direct contact with people within the communities and I know it is an arduous job, a thankless job you have when you interface with people within the communities and they expect you to do everything…continue to be humble to the people.”
He mentioned too, that coming from the recent Cabinet outreach with his fellow ministers, the President, Vice President and Prime Minister, there were numerous complaints about deplorable roads and streets and as such, an additional $4.5B will be spent on community roads which have been left unattended for some time.
Furthermore, he stated that the government has been investing in Region Six and will continue to do so while mentioning the decision to employ 3000 persons on a part-time basis as a means of providing temporary employment.
The President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, and the Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo had announced during a recent Cabinet outreach to the region that the government will be hiring some 3000 persons to work three times a week, with a wage of $40,000. Applications have since opened and will close on Friday, May 6, 2022 and, according to Minister Dharamlall, some 2000 persons have already applied.
He added that this venture by the government “will add substantially to the economic capacity of the region as well and through that programme, we will spend an additional $120M a month and for the rest of the year, we will spend close to $960M on this Pathway Programme.” An additional $100M will be spent to provide 400 small grants to beneficiaries in Region Six, he said.
For the year 2022, through the RDC in Region Six, Dharamlall said the government will be spending in excess of $10B in the economy of the region and in the flood assistance programme and school grants. “We are also spending substantially on the community enhancement programme and this year, we will be spending a few hundred millions more through the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development towards the management of solid waste in Region Six, which is becoming one of the challenges of many of our municipalities as well as the NDC areas. So we intend to pursue physical development towards the enhancement of solid waste in Region Six,” he said.
Also, a total of $100M was spent to upgrade health centres in the region.
Meanwhile, Regional Chairman, David Armogan said that the government is working to ensure that development takes place at all levels and as such, he told the contractors who were present at the signing that they are important when it comes to delivering quality work to the people. He noted, “if you do not do well at your level then it feeds back right up to the government and the government gets a bad name, so as much as the top-level is trying very hard to do things, the tier at the bottom level is very important to ensure that all the projects that you are implementing are to the standard that the people expect.”
He mentioned that since the Cabinet outreach, a new system has been put in place, where the contracts signed are going to be explained to beneficiaries in detail so that when a contractor is executing works, the people will have an understanding of what is being done and as such, they become “the watchdogs” of the projects being executed.
“…So anytime they see that you are not working in accordance with what is stipulated in the contract, they will report to us and the work will be stopped and then we will get involved so no longer will contractors be able to get away with some of the things they got away with in the past, because now is not only officials of the government looking at it, it’s also the people, the beneficiaries of these programmes,” Armogan said.
He, therefore, urged all contractors to ensure that the standard of work is what is within the contract requirement. He also tasked the Vice Chairman and his team to ensure that before payments are given to the contractors, efforts must be made to ensure that the work is done to the standard that is required.
With the new system in place, regional officials will be heading into the various communities where works are to be executed and the bill of quantities will be given to them and explained. According to Vice-Chairman Zamal Hussain, “over the last few years, we have had problems with persons not knowing what really is happening and some of the residents question the quality of roads that are being built so we have moved into a different direction where we are going into the communities now.”
He also mentioned that in terms of work that will be done in the region, the central ministry has been assisting and the Ministry of Public Works will also be assisting with the rehabilitation of streets in the various communities shortly. “This is because of the last outreach, there were numerous complaints pertaining to streets so we are looking into that,” he said.
Signing of the contracts was held at the boardroom of the Regional Democratic Council, Region Six.