The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) yesterday opened its doors to the people of Region #8, with a new sub-office located in Mahdia at one of the Regional Democratic Council’s (RDC) buildings.
This constitutes an expansion of core services to the residents of Region Eight. A GNBS press release said that an Inspector will now be stationed in central Mahdia.
Delivering remarks at the opening ceremony, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Oneidge Walrond noted that the launching of a new GNBS office in Mahdia signals the Government’s commitment to decentralise the services offered to citizens across the country.
Ramrattie Karan, Executive Director of the GNBS (Ag) pointed out that the Bureau’s vision is to be the premier national institution for standards and quality in Guyana and to do so, it is important to have a physical presence in each of the Administrative Regions.
According to the release, she noted that prior to the opening of the office in Mahdia, Inspectors “would regularly travel to Region Eight to verify petrol pumps and other measuring instruments used by businesses here, but as the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting travel restrictions have taught us, this is not the perfect option.”
She added that with Mahdia declared a town, an increase in the sale of bulk fuel in the Region has been noticed and this will require wider use of the GNBS’ verification services.
Further, the GNBS local office will be offering calibration services to gold miners who require calibration of their scales. The GNBS Inspector will also be monitoring the quality of 17 products which fall under the purview of the GNBS, to safeguard consumers.
The opening ceremony was also attended by Regional Chairman Headley Pio, Mayor of Mahdia and President of the Mahdia Chamber of Commerce, David Adams.
Pio in his address welcomed the GNBS to the town. He pointed out that this office will reduce expenses, time and pressure exerted by businesspersons to travel to Georgetown to access verification and calibration services. “We all need these services in our region that will ease the transportation going out to Georgetown and Linden,” he noted.
While in Mahdia, the visiting GNBS Team also held several meetings with stakeholders, conducted a lecture for students of the Mahdia Secondary School and participated in an interview on Radio Mahdia to create awareness of GNBS and its services in the region.
Stakeholders needing to contact the GNBS Mahdia office can call: +592-632-0731.
