Emergency works for Sand Creek Secondary – Min Allicock decries shoddy hinterland construction

DPI, GUYANA, Monday, August 07, 2017

The call for more rigorous scouting of hinterland contractors has been made by the Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Sydney Allicock, as he moves to source emergency relief to remedy infrastructural defects at the Sand Creek Secondary School. The school houses some 298 students, from the community and within South Rupununi.

During the Minister’s weekend visit to the Region Nine community of Sand Creek residents raised concerns that the approximately five-year-old structure, is unsafe and unhygienic for students.

“The walls are separating from the columns and the beams are cracking; it’s very dangerous for our students. They sent someone to … fix it and they make a makeshift thing,” Dorothy Faria told the Minister during the South Rupununi District Council (SRDC) meeting on Saturday.        

Minister Allicock told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that, “As I understood it we were supposed to have this under control already. My assessment is that this is an emergency. While some remedial work was done we’re seeing the cracks opening again. I’ll take this to my other colleagues and see what we could do to remedy the situation in time for September”.

During Minister Allicock’s inspection of the building deep cracks were clearly visible outside the building including the haphazard attempts to fix them.

The school’s compound and corridors were also filled with animal dung and according to the caretaker the fence was demolished but no one seemed to know why. “I’m going to try to follow-up to see what has happened and it has caused the compound to be in a very deplorable state. It’s like a corral actually,” Minister Allicock said.

Minister Allicock expressed dissatisfaction with contractors who are compliant “on paper but the actual work is not the very best”. He promised to “double check” the contractor assigned to the school with the regional authority.

“We need to give our people within the region more of these contracts because they know the terrain, they understand the makeup of the soil and would be able to be directed by that through the cooperation of the communities,” he stated.

While the government has facilitated procurement and project implementation workshops to ensure that regional contractors can bid for projects, it has also indicated it will hold contractors who do substandard work accountable.

Recently, remedial works on the Kato Secondary School in Region Eight was approved by a Ministerial Task Force. The school’s contractor was made to correct defects in the construction which were commissioned at a cost of $1B under the previous administration.

 

By: Tiffny Rhodius