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Flooding derails Jawalla Airstrip again
…but new Secondary School stays on track
(Kaieteur News) – Infrastructure projects in the Region Seven community of Jawalla are experiencing sharply different outcomes, as persistent seasonal flooding continues to cripple work on the village’s airstrip while construction of the new $231.9M Jawalla Secondary School remains on schedule for completion in July 2026.
Work on the Jawalla airstrip has effectively stalled after repeated flooding washed away sections of completed work, forcing contractors to restart key phases of the project multiple times.
Ameir Ahmad, Principal of Sheriff Construction Company, the firm contracted for the project, revealed to Kaieteur News that while the airstrip is currently 80 percent complete, environmental factors have disrupted the timeline. Ahmad stated that “This is the 6 or 7 times for the year the village flooding. And once it floods the work that being done goes to waste.”
The project, which carries a budget of 235 million dollars, reportedly was fully paid and originally slated for completion in April 2025 with a durable asphalt finish.
However, intense washouts have severely damaged the foundation. Ahmad explained the current predicament, noting that “Right now we are ready to put asphalt but we can’t. We have to put back laterite again cause some wash away.” The construction company now estimates that the airstrip will not be completed until late 2026, noting that the final delivery date remains entirely dependent on the weather and the flooding.
In contrast to the stalled airstrip, the construction of the new Jawalla Secondary School is progressing, remaining on schedule to finish by the July month-end deadline. The 231.9 million dollar initiative has recorded advancement in recent months, aimed at playing a role in easing overcrowding and providing improved learning conditions for students transitioning from Primary Top schools. Education Minister Sonia Parag inspected the ongoing construction works early this year and expressed satisfaction with the project’s progress alongside Marti De Souza, Deputy Chief Education Officer for Amerindian and Hinterland Education Development.
During her site visit, Minister Parag emphasized the urgency of transitioning these students into proper educational spaces, explaining that “It’s very important that we have students from the Primary Top come into this school and occupy this space. We want to remove the overcrowding that’s happening at schools right now; that’s one of the main reasons why we embarked on this project.” The education minister encouraged the contractor to accelerate works to ensure the school is delivered in time for the upcoming academic year, stating that “We are hoping that the facility is completed just before the opening of the new term in September 2026. I think the contractor may be able to do that because like I said, we’ve seen significant improvements in the last few months.”
According to data from the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board website, the exact contract valued at 231,959,143 dollars was awarded to Sheriff Construction Inc. On 24th May,2024, after emerging from a competitive field of seven bidding contractors. Plans to build a secondary school in the community originally began in March 2023, when Minister of Education Priya Manickchand and senior officers visited the area to determine the ideal location. The ministry confirmed that the new facility will be the second of its kind in the Upper Mazaruni District and will drastically ease overcrowding at the DC Caesar Fox Secondary School in Waramadong.
The massive compound is set to accommodate around 500 students in the classrooms and 400 students in the dormitories, boasting specialized Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and Information Technology laboratories, alongside Technical and Vocational Education and Training labs, a Home Economics room, and a library space.
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