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Nandlall’s Ministry building a parking shed that will cost more than two turn-key homes
Kaieteur News – A new parking shed at the Ministry of Legal Affairs and Chambers of the Attorney General’s office located on Carmichael Street, Georgetown, is estimated to cost almost two times the price for a turn-key home at Perseverance on the East Bank of the Demerara (EBD).
A $7.5M core home built by the government (Photo Credit: CH&PA)
The current parking shed at the Ministry’s office.
The Legal Affairs Ministry on Wednesday published an advertisement in the Kaieteur News daily newspaper inviting bids from contractors to undertake two projects. One of the two projects is an invitation to construct a “Parking Shed” at the ministry’s office. According to the advertisement, the engineer estimated the project to cost $8.05M, almost two times the cost for a turn-key home. Sources told Kaieteur News that the ministry is tearing down the old shed and is replacing it with a bigger one to accommodate more vehicles, still the source said the estimated amount is: “ridiculous.” “Why would you build a parking shed for such a high cost, when people can’t get houses? Some persons have lands and can’t even afford to build a house and you are spending $8M on a shed,” the source added.
It was also explained that the current shed has a low roof that is damaging large vehicles. “But this could be easily remedied. Just raise the roof, why spend so much money on a project like this? It is not like it was earning the ministry anything…” the source noted.
The current structure is supported by at least 20 2×4 posts cemented to the ground and standing at an estimated height of at least 10 feet. As the ministry embarks on this project, it should be noted that the money, which was stated as the estimated cost, can build a 20 by 30 foot, turn-key home with inside toilet and bath facilities and still have a minimum of $3M remaining. In fact, it was reported in September 2020 that the current government had earmarked an area at Perseverance located behind Providence, EBD to construct turn-key homes for low-income families. The Ministry of Housing and Water had back then stated that each of the turn-key homes will cost $4.9M or $4.4M and includes two bedrooms, an inside toilet and bath with a kitchen sink. Although one could argue that the cost for materials has increased since then, it can be noted that one of the houses being built under the government’s current core homes project still cost less than $8M.
An April 4, 2022 post on the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) Facebook page revealed that government is in the final stages of completing 100 core homes for families at Williamsburg/Hampshire, Berbice, Region Six. CH&PA in its post stated, “each home is a two-bedroom flat unit, measuring 20 feet by 30 feet (600 square feet) and is being built by 13 contractors at a total cost of $750 million.” One hundred Core homes built for a total of $750M simply means that each house is costing the government only $7.5M, $500,000 less than the cost for the new shed at the Ministry’s office.
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