Two contracts were signed yesterday in the boardroom of the Ministry of Education’s 26 Brickdam office for the expansion and rehabilitation of the Hopetown and Beterverwagting Practical Instruction Centres.
Each facility will benefit from improved practical instruction departments to offer CVQ Level One training in Commercial Food Preparation, Masonry/Plumbing, Electrical Installation, Graphic Design, and Home Economics / House Keeping.
This is expected to improve the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) options offered to students in Region Five (Hopetown) and Region Four (Beterverwagting).
The two projects fall under the Guyana Skills Development and Employability Project (GSDEP) which is funded by the Caribbean Development Bank. The GSDEP is aimed at improving Guyana’s capacity to deliver TVET programmes equitably across the education sector.
Chief Education Officer, Dr. Marcel Hutson, speaking directly to the contractors said that when executing these projects they need to move with alacrity and avoid any delays since these projects are important to the development of our students.
Deputy Chief Education Officer (Technical) Mr. Patrick Onwuzirike said that he would like the contractors to complete their work within the contractual timeline which is 12 months so that next year, students can be admitted into the institutions.
Permanent Secretary Mr. Alfred King reminded the contractors of the Government’s zero-tolerance for delinquent contractors. He said, “We have been experiencing very often contractors who would win these contracts fairly but then trying to get the implementation going is always a problem.” He said that timely delivery of the project is key to quality control.
The cost for the expansion and rehabilitation of the Beterverwagting PIC is GY$186,478,810. This contract was awarded to KALLCO Guyana Inc. The cost for the expansion and rehabilitation of the Hopetown PIC is US$1,567,340. This contract was awarded to M&P Investment Guyana Inc. with MTSUL Construcoes LTDA and Construtora Cobra Eireli.
The consultancy firm for both projects is VIKAB Engineering Consultants Limited in association with VIKAB (Guyana) Limited and Jain Consultants.
