The opening of the Kato Secondary School has been rescheduled to January 2016, GINA said yesterday.
This is in order to have the school fully furnished and handed over to the Ministry of Education.
According to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Delma Nedd, the building is “practically completed,” but it has not yet been handed over to the Ministry.
Additionally, she said that the school has not yet been furnished or staffed. The Ministry has advertised for contractors to tender for the supply of furniture but the contract has not yet been awarded.
Nedd told GINA that she and a team are expected to visit the school before the end of the month.
GINA said that the main structure of the school was estimated to cost $780M, but the additional cost of furnishing, lighting, fencing, and security was expected to take the final figure to around $1B.
The GINA report came in the wake of a news item in Monday’s edition of Stabroek News where the former Chairman of Region Eight Mark Crawford said that the school had been completed.
Stabroek News also reported that the planned Kato hydropower plant which was to take care of the energy needs of the school had still not been built.
In January 2012, the EU had announced that the total cost of the hydropower project was expected to be €2.4 million (approximately $615 million) with the EU contributing €1.8 million (approximately $460 million) under the 10th European Development Fund while the Guyana Government would contribute €613,949 euros (approximately $154 million).
While construction of the hydropower plant was scheduled to commence at the end of 2013, nothing has happened since, Stabroek News was told. One of the pre-conditions for the investment was the construction of a secondary school at Kato. “The secondary school is foreseen to be the main electricity consumer and therefore as such forms the basis for feasibility of the investment,” the EU had said.
