Huawei Technologies to conduct new assessment of E- Government Unit
GINA, GUYANA, Thursday 17, 2016
Huawei Technologies has been contracted to undertake a new assessment of the E- Government Unit, as Government seeks to implement its countrywide broadband network.
This was disclosed by Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, today, at a post-Cabinet press briefing at the Ministry of the Presidency.
Minister Trotman said that the Government hopes that the new assessment into the unit can be done in the shortest possible time, noting that the previous studies conducted under the previous administration revealed that what transpired for a plan was of no consequence and cannot to be utilised.
The findings in the concluded study are regrettable, but the Government has no choice but to start over, Trotman explained.
As it relates to the fibre optic cable, Minister Trotman said that some of the past work has been deemed obsolete and incapable of being resuscitated, “So I believe that it has been concluded and has been reported by the Minister of State in the past that it is a spent project, and parts of it can be salvaged and most parts of it cannot be,” Minister Trotman said.
“Some of the equipment and tower stations, solar panels can be salvaged,” Minister Trotman said.
The Minister pointed out that if anyone travels along the Mabura road and the Lethem trail they will see visible signs of decay and destruction of the fiber optic cable.
A special investigation into the financial operations and functioning of the E‐ Government Project launched by the Government of Guyana in 2012 was carried out by Ram & McRae, Chartered Accountants.
The report said that the project was administered by persons in,, and contracted by the Office of the President. The project contained two distinct components. The first was the E‐Government Dense Wavelength Division Multiplex (DWDM) Project which involved the laying of a fibre optic cable from Lethem to Georgetown, and the second was the E‐Government (LTE) Project which is a joint venture between the Government of Guyana and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd (China) for the construction of LTE sites and laying of fibre optic cables along the coast.
The project costs were estimated at US$5M and US$32M for the two components respectively. It was executed without appropriate project management documentation including a Project Initiation Document setting out the purpose, objectives, scope, deliverables, constraints and assumptions.
Interim and final progress reports were also not available. The sub-contractor for the second component, Huawei, prepared a project document, but its scope is limited.