A $1.7b contract was signed yesterday for the expansion and rehabilitation of the Fellowship Practical Instruction Centre (PIC), West Bank Demerara.
A statement from the Ministry of Education said that the improved PIC will offer the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) Level One training in the areas of Commercial Food Preparation, Masonry/ Plumbing, Electrical Installation and Furniture Making.
The statement said that this is the fourth such contract to be signed under the Guyana Skills Development and Employability Project (GSDEP) funded by the Caribbean Development Bank.
Contracts were previously signed for the expansion and rehabilitation of the Beterverwagting (East Coast Demerara), Hope-town (West Coast Berbice) and the North West District (Region One) PICs.
According to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Alfred King, it is expected that these institutions will meet the requirements to offer CVQ Level One training to students.
King, according to the statement, said that outside of improving Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) infrastructure, the GSDEP has several components including capacity building of technical staff and providing scholarships for engineers and TVET instructors.
GSDEP Coordinator, Theron Siebs said that the idea behind the expansion and rehabilitation of the PICs is to retrofit them so that they can offer training in the aforementioned subject areas.
He said that the cost of this particular project is US$816, 021.60 and the contractor is S&K Construction and Consultancy Services and General Supplies. The project is being supervised by VIKAB Engineering Consultants Limited of Trinidad and Tobago in association with VIKAB (Guyana) Limited and Jain Consultants, the statement said.
Siebs said that VIKAB is no stranger to executing work in Guyana and has supervised the construction of over 100 schools in Guyana. He added that it is vital for the contractors and consultants to ensure that the facility meets the technical specifications outlined in the document, failing which the facility will not be accredited to offer CVQ Level One training.
Signing the contract yesterday on behalf of the Ministry of Education was the Permanent Secretary along with Ayeni John, Architect attached to VIKAB Engineering and Keshiri Gajraj, Manager of S&K Construction and Consultancy Services and General Supplies. Work is expected to start 28 days from yesterday.
