Expanded TVET facilities for Regions 3, 4 and 5
DPI, Guyana, Monday, January 14, 2019
The Ministry of Education today facilitated the signing of a contract that will see the preparation of final designs and provision of construction supervision services for the expansion and refurbishment of three Technical, Vocational, Education and Training (TVET) facilities at the secondary level.
These facilities are located at Fellowship Region Three (Essequibo Island/West Demerara), Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara and Hopetown, Region Five (Mahaica/Berbice).
The contract was signed between the Ministry and Vikab Engineering Consultants Limited in association with Vikab (Guyana) Limited, JAIN Consultants Trinidad and Tobago Limited.
According to the Ministry of Education, the undertaking is Lot ‘B’ of the Enhance Learning Component of the Guyana Skills Development and Employability Project (GSDEP).
Project Coordinator of GSDEP, Terrence Siebs said the project has been long in the making and it is now at the stage where there is an experienced design engineering consultancy firm on board.
He said that the GSDEP is a project funded by the Caribbean Development Bank through a loan and a grant agreement and funding from the Government of Guyana.
“The scope is to create very detailed designs and one of the interesting things about this project is that it’s not a case where the consultants prepare something and submit it to the ministry. The ministry prepared a very robust Terms of Reference after numerous consultations with different stakeholders. We already have a design review committee on board and apart from that, the consultant at each stage of the design has to do a presentation of the design.”
The contract is in the sum of US$218,050. The design phase is for three months, after which there will be a tendering phase followed by a construction phase for one year which should be rolled out in July of this year.
Minister of Education, Dr. Nicolette Henry said the project is not only important to the Education Ministry but Guyana.
According to the minister, the programme was expected to begin in 2018 but was delayed due to some unforeseen issues.
“I trust that the young people of this country will truly benefit from this project. I trust that we are able to keep up with the timelines and the demands of this project. I certainly look forward to the outcomes which would be beneficial to the entire country,” the minister said.
Representing the consultancy firm today was its Managing Director, Hardat Punwasee. He said that his firm will ensure that the Ministry of Education is not disappointed.
Punwasee signed the contract on behalf of the consultancy firm while Permanent Secretary, Adele Clarke, signed on behalf of the Ministry of Education.
Images: Ministry of Education.