A contract worth US$250,953 was signed today between the Ministry of Education and local chartered architects, Deen and Partners, for the design of a Hospitality Institute which will address the growing demands in the hospitality sector.
In the boardroom of the Ministry of Education’s 26 Brickdam Office, the contract was signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Adele Clarke, and Mr. Deen Kamaludeen, Principal of Deen and Partners.
The consultancy firm is undertaking the project in association with Consulting Engineers Partnership Ltd (CEP) and Leverage Consulting Limited.
According to Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry, the project is an important one to Guyana, particularly with the oil and gas sector coming on-stream, which will result in an increase of persons coming to the country.
The project comes under the Guyana Skills Development and Employability Project (GSDEP). Funding for the institute was secured from the Caribbean Development Bank. The Coordinator of GSDEP, Mr. Theron Siebs, explained that the project is in response to the growing demands in the hospitality sector. He said that the institute will be the first of its kind in Guyana.
The proposed site under consideration for the location of the institute is the commercial area at Providence, East Bank Demerara, Region Four.
He said that students in the various programmes will be fully trained according to Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) standard.
According to Mr. Siebs, the institute will prepare citizens for industry level equivalence to the rest of the Caribbean Region, so that they can command technical and supervisory level positions in the emerging industry and utilise those skills acquired in the more mature regional tourism market.
He said that the school is expected to mimic a mini four-star hotel with provision for fine dining, banquet halls, classrooms, and recreational facilities such as a tennis court and swimming pools. The design phase for the project is five months.
The principal of Deen and Partners, Mr. Deen Kamaludeen said that his team will deliver all that is required within the timelines and expressed confidence that the final product will be of a high standard since one of the partners were involved in the building of a similar hospitality institute in St. Vincent. Also attending the signing ceremony was the Chief Education Officer, Mr. Marcel Hutson.
