The expense for this project comes under the Office of the President. According to the project profile, the funds will be used for “the installation of (a) fibre optic networking system from George-town to Lethem”, “the construction of a central data centre in Georgetown” and for the “construction of wireless and terrestrial network from Moleson Creek to Anna Regina”. Guyana will be benefitting from loans from China and India to the tune of $640 million and $200 million respectively to assist with this project, Minister within the Finance Ministry Jennifer Webster said. The total cost of this project has been pegged at $8,760,000,000 and is expected to be completed within the next few years. A sum of $353,549,000 had previously been expended on this project, the project profile states.
Webster revealed that the $1,686.451, 000 in voted provisions for 2010 will facilitate the procurement of some of the materials for the civil works components concerning the network from Georgetown to Lethem as well as the network from Moleson to Charity/Anna Regina. Funds will also be used to link these two components to the Central Data Centre.
Webster, while responding to a query from Opposition Leader Robert Corbin, said that the central data centre was not going to be established at the Central Intelligence Agency that the administration is now constructing in the compound of Castellani House. The data centre will be the hub for the cable from Georgetown to Lethem and will be housed at Providence even as “details are still being worked out”, Webster stated.
Responding to a question from AFC MP Khemraj Ramjattan as to whether a feasibility study had been done on the project, Webster answered in the affirmative. She said “that in government, every single project that we’ve started to undertake we have done our work. We have rigorously assessed the impact of that project and the cost/benefit analysis of doing such a project in accordance with our developmental agenda. All our projects are demand driven”. She noted that a lot of work has been done on the project and that “in the course of time more details would be provided”. She promised the National Assembly that these details would be provided within the course of the year.
When AFC MP Sheila Holder asked whether the aspect of the project that deals with the construction of wireless and terrestrial network from Moleson Creek to Anna Regina would be done via a public, open tender, the Minister responded in the affirmative. She said that this would be done through a public tendering process that will be open to both local and overseas contractors.
Meanwhile, the opposition parties also questioned the large increase in budgeted expenditure under the description of “Security Services” for the Office of the President. The budgeted expenditure for this year has been pegged at $36,114,000 almost double the $18,815,000 spent last year.
When PNCR-1G MP Aubrey Norton raised this issue, Webster said that this was due to the charges relating to “including monitoring of security services provided for alarm facilities”. She also noted that there was an additional security cost to a Presidential Advisor. The cost of these monitors amount to $77,000 per month for each official, Webster said. The total cost spent on this system is represents about 60 percent of the total budgeted amount.
Meanwhile, PNCR-1G Shadow Finance Minister Winston Murray asked why a list of the positions of contracted employees at the President’s Office, their emoluments and benefits they are entitled to had not been made available as is normally done. He noted that he has asked this question more than 5 years ago and that he had been promised by a previous minister that this would have been done.
In response, Webster, said that this request by him was still engaging the attention of the administration.
