Contracts signed for $2B Kwebanna Secondary School

Jul 06, 2023 News

Kaieteur News – The Ministry of Education on Wednesday signed $2,017,419,996 in contracts for the construction of a brand new secondary school at Kwebanna, Region One.

Present at the signing ceremony was Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand. In her brief remarks, the minister said this project is another important one since it forms part of her government’s promise of making access to secondary education, universal. She said this means that every child across the country will access secondary education.

She noted that the building of this school and others is being done to address the space constraints being faced in various schools across the country. “Every year, it is a bit of a hassle trying to place children even on the Coast. So in Georgetown we had some placement problems with overcrowding in schools, to having to go on rotation and shifts,” she stated. The minister added that “In Region Three, we have serious placement problems with the same reasons, and in places like Regions 1,7,8 and 9 we don’t even have schools that children can go to , they end up going to their primary school for a secondary type education which in not premium.”

In addressing these problems, she explained that her ministry has embarked on a very aggressive programme to give access to all children all across in Guyana a secondary education. Over the past few weeks, the ministry had signed a number of projects for the construction, reconstruction of secondary schools. Also the ministry recently commissioned the Good Hope Secondary and the Abram Zuil Secondary schools.

Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand alongside ministry officials and contractors at the signing of contracts for the construction of the Kwebanna Secondary School in Region One.

In her charge to the contractors, the minister urged them to complete the works in a timely manner, and noted that failure to complete the project will have consequences. Minister Manickchand added that “we need these schools, this school particularly to be able to offer quality education where it is going to change lives. You are not going to see it celebrated on a front page but this school will change lives. So we really need you to be true to the contract you signed.”

This project which is one of several projects undertaking by the ministry has been divided into six lots. In its invitation for bids, the ministry had stated that it is seeking contractors to execute site development works (Lot1), substructure works on the school building (Lot2), substructure works for the dormitory (Lot3) and teachers’ quarter (Lot4), to execute electrical works (Lot5), and sanitation and plumbing works (Lot6).

The layout of the school which will be built at Kwebanna, Region One.

The contracts awarded are as follow: Lot1 – Supreme Contracting & Supplies for $187,735,280; Lot 2 – Supreme Contracting & Supplies for $205,242,780; Lot3 – Bree’s Enterprise for $189,413,616; Lot4 – AS Construction for $157,196,240; Lot5 – Singh & Son Construction for $1,080,915,650; and Lot6 – Singh and Son Construction for $196,916,430.

The new state-of-the-art building is said to house over 600 students and over 25 teachers. It will consist of 30 classrooms, space for science laboratories, TVET Centre, Home Economics, and Industrial Arts just to name a few. The school will also feature several fire prevention mechanisms and these components of the school include fire escape stairs, escape doors, fire alarms, fire extinguishers and more.

The school is scheduled to be completed within seven to eight months and the supervisory firm to overlook the works of the building will be done by C&B Associates.

As reported, the education sector was allocated some $94.4B and out of that a sum of $12.4 billion has been dedicated towards the construction, rehabilitation, extension, and maintenance of educational facilities.

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contracts signed, Kwebanna Secondary, Ministry of Education, new school, universal secondary education

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