Chairman of QC Board gets contract to design new wing of school

Jan 16, 2025 News

-Manickchand says there is no conflict of interest

Kaieteur News- Chairman of the Queen’s College (QC) Board of Governors and Engineer, Marcel Gaskin was recently awarded the contract to design the new western wing of the school.

Gaskin’s firm, Marcel Gaskin and Associates Limited is no stranger to the government as the company has been providing consulting and engineering services for several projects in the country. This publication understands that in December, the Ministry of Education went out to tender seeking a contractor for the ‘Reconstruction of Queen’s College West Wing’ of which four companies applied. Among the bidders was A. Orgasein & Sons that was awarded the contract. From the minutes provided by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), A. Orgasein & Sons submitted a financial proposal of $514,756,823 for the contract.

Chairman of QC Board gets contract to design new wing of school

Queen’s College located in Georgetown. (Photo courtesy, Queen’s College Old Students Association/Facebook)

Kaieteur News understands that the move to have the western wing of the school demolished and rebuilt comes after the Ministry was professionally advised that the building is seriously compromised and unsafe for children’s occupation. This is according to Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand who posted on her
Facebook page on Tuesday that “As soon as we learnt of that in writing, we commissioned a drawing, went to public tender in the newspapers and on the worldwide web and an award was made by NPTAB.”

The Minister stated that after an award was made, they briefed all the stakeholders about the upcoming project. In light of the school’s project, concerns have been raised on the chairman’s involvement in the project. Addressing these concerns, the Minister on Wednesday in a separate Facebook post stated that Gaskin who is Chair of the Board, has the expertise to design and supervise this project as he has done for many other projects in the country.

“On the issue of Marcel Gaskin’s involvement being a conflict of interest I ask, how? Marcel happens to be chair of the board and has the expertise to design and supervise this project as he has done for many other projects in the country. For many years. He is not the contractor. So he isn’t supervising his own works. He would be supervising someone else’s work,” the Minister.

In clarifying, the Minister said that the supervision for this project has not yet been awarded, adding that “Marcel did however design the building for the
Ministry and while we have not yet paid for that, I don’t see why that should be for free.”

This publication understands that works on the new wing will commence shortly. Some of the children affected will be facilitated through online learning.

(Chairman of QC Board gets contract to design new wing of school)

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Marcel Gaskin, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand, Queens College, reconstruction, western wing

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