The government is moving to provide electricity to Port Kaituma and Mahdia and has invited suppliers to bid, provide and install items needed for the electrification process for the two hinterland communities.
In an ad in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) said suppliers were invited to submit bids by November 24 to provide and install generators and switchgears; and pad-mount transformers. The Port Kaituma/Mahdia electrification project, according to the ad, is being funded under the Unserved Areas Electrification Programme (UAEP) by the Inter-American Development Bank.
UAEP, the ad said, includes a Hinterland Project Preparation Component and as part of its Hinterland strategy the government plans to conduct several demonstration projects and it is part of this IDB loan that is bring used to pay for the items needed for the Port Kaituma/Mahdia electrification project.
Bidding, it further said, will be governed by the IDB’s eligibility rules and procedures and conducted through the organization’s International Competitive Bidding procedures specified in their policies for the procurement of works and goods financed by them. Suppliers from eligible source countries as defined in the IDB’s policies are allowed to bid.
Interested suppliers who are eligible to bid can obtain further information from the Office of the Project Implementation Unit, Office of the Prime Minister and inspect the bidding documents between 8 am and 4.30 pm Monday to Friday until November 23. Bidding document can also be uplifted at the office located at Wight’s Lane, Kingston, Georgetown for a non-refundable fee of $5,000. Payment will only be accepted in cash or by manager’s cheque.
International companies interested in bidding may receive the documents electronically at no cost. A request for a document can be emailed by those companies to uaep-piu@electricity.gov.gy. However, electronic bidding is not permitted and all bids must be submitted to the NPTAB Chairman by 9 am on November 24 Ministry of Finance, Main and Urquhart Streets, Georgetown.
Late bids will not be accepted and the bids will be opened in front of bidders or their representatives at 9am on November 24. All bids, according to the ad, must be accompanied by bid security and the amount specified in the bid document. Guyanese bidders are reminded to submit the relevant Guyana Revenue Authority and National Insurance Scheme (NIS) Compliance Certificates indicating that they have met their Income Tax and NIS obligation.
At the sitting of the National Assembly on December 22 last year the government announced its plans to provide electricity to the residents of Mahdia and its environs, but had stated that this would not be done immediately.
The announcement had been made by Prime Minster Samuel Hinds, who also holds the post of Minister of Public Works and Communication. At the time he was answering a question posed to him by AFC [Alliance For Change] MP Latchmin Budhan-Punalall, about the immediacy of the government’s plans to provide electricity to the residents of Mahdia and its environs.
Mahdia, Hinds said last year, had been identified among the 100-odd communities in the hinterland region that the government intends to provide electricity to and the community has been looked at as one of the pilot communities for the project.
The community, he had further explained, was not without any form of electricity since three private businesses in the area provided electricity to some residents. He said that the policy of the government was to provide the capital costs for the project, while the consumers will look after the other costs. The government had approached the businesses in an attempt to forge a partnership, but these discussions have been put on hold, he’d reported.
Meanwhile, he had said Port Kaituma has been identified as the area to undergo immediate electrification. He said as funds become available the government will return to Mahdia.