The Venezuela-funded homeless shelter, at Onverwagt, Berbice, is soon to be completed.
“We are hoping to very soon have the facility completed,” Human Services Minister Jennifer Webster said, while noting that the US$2M (equivalent to GYD$402M) project is being funded under the PetroCaribe oil concessionary agreement, with additional monies for soft furnishings given by the government.
The project should have been finished last year-end; however, Webster said due to problems with two other contractors, who were subsequently fired, there was a delay in completion. The current contractor was given the completion contract, which is up to this point 85 percent completed, to the tune of $279M through the tender board.
The facility, intended to rehabilitate and reintegrate, is also expected to benefit the residents holistically by giving them skills training in several disciplines.
“We hope to have in place mechanisms where persons at the shelter will be able to rehabilitate themselves to fit back into society. They will be taught a number of skills, especially the women, where after they would have left they can then use to provide adequately for themselves and family,” Webster explained.
The shelter will prepare to house 160 persons; one hundred males and sixty females. Webster said she is optimistic that the shelter will cater to remove all homeless persons from the streets.
Webster anticipated that rehabilitation will be a difficult, since it is expected that some may want to resort to the streets. However, the ministry is currently making provisions to ensure that this situation does not occur. In addition, the issue of drug addicts who will be housed at the shelter is being looked at and necessary expertise will be given to help the recovering addicts, she said.
Webster said that procurement of soft furnishings will be done by the government, since at the signing of the agreement it was understood that the PetroCaribe monies would not be enough to cover all that was needed for a comfortable stay at the facility. She added that sometime later this week she will visit the facility to ensure that works are pushing forward to meet the “very soon” deadline.
