A $23 million contract has been awarded for the provision of internet services at the Kato Secondary School and according to Minister of State Joseph Harmon this is part of government’s plan to ensure that hinterland schools are on par with those on the coast.
Harmon, during a post-Cabinet press briefing on Friday, announced that Cabinet has given its no objection to the award of the contract, valued $23,270,419, to IMON Wireless Solutions.
He explained that the provision of internet services to this school is part of an ongoing programme to provide internet connectivity to schools across the coastland and in the hinterland. He said that similar access is being provided to secondary schools at Mabaruma, Port Kaituma, Santa Rosa, Aishalton, Lethem, Annai, Paramakatoi, Waramadong, Kwakwani, Mahdia, and Bartica.
“…So that all of these schools will have the same facilities in the hinterland as those that are provided for the schools on the coast,” he said.
These hinterland schools, he explained, are outside of the government’s reach and require providers to connect them by way of broadband satellite services.
According to Harmon, the project, like the others, was the subject of public tendering. “So what we expect …is a quality service to the students at that school [Kato]. This is all because the E-Government network has not reached these areas as yet. Areas where they have reached we have already actually started providing service under the E-Government network programme but we cannot delay the provision of internet services to the students in the hinterland because that project hasn’t reached them as yet. So, what is happening is that we have found a way of actually providing the internet service now before E-Governance reaches them and this is the contract which has been awarded and we expect that the students will be benefiting from these services,” he added.
Meanwhile, Harmon informed that no-objections have been given to a US$187,500 contract, which was awarded to CBT Nuggets LLC, for the provision of Nugget Learning Servers to the National Data Management Authority; and a $74,005,372 contract to NT Computeac for the implementation of a virtual data centre at the National Data Management Authority.
