Bids invited to advance projects for Amerindians

The Ministry of Amerindian Affairs is making good on its promise to enhance the quality of life of the nation’s First Peoples through the Invitation for Bids (IFB) to procure much-needed equipment.

The machines would be financed through Budget 2021 under the Community Development and Empowerment Programme (CDEP).

Invitations were published for 25 new outboard engines, 14 all-terrain vehicles and four new minibuses, which are expected to make travelling in and around hinterland villages much easier.

Bids were also invited for 113 ploughs and clippers for tractors as the Government continues to make investments aimed at fostering agricultural development in hinterland areas, in keeping with its overall plan to revitalise village economies.

Additionally, attention would be given to broadening communication in parts of the hinterland where gaps may exist, through the purchase and delivery of 15 radio sets.

Citizens in these areas who are involved in the logging sector or in joinery are also set to benefit from 20 chain saws, procured through the bids.

Further, the CDEP would also provide the necessary tools to ensure that women’s groups can function, with the acquisition of 40 new sewing machines.

The PPP/C Administration has maintained its focus on ensuring Amerindian communities are not left out of the Government’s development agenda.

Amerindians have benefited from the distribution of the $25,000 per household COVID-19 relief cash grants to primary households, and the one-off COVID-19 investment fund for villages.

The $1.73 billion fund was created to facilitate infrastructural development projects as well as income-generating/economic projects to cushion Amerindian villages from the fallout of the pandemic. 

Some $825 million was approved for the CDEP in the 2020 budget.