The construction of a $650 million pump station at Canal Number 1, West Bank Demerara and a 10-tonne paddy seed dryer and pre-cleaning facility at Black Bush Polder, Corentyne, Berbice, are among the over $1 billion worth of contracts signed yesterday by the Ministry of Agriculture.
The signing of the contracts, Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha said, is critical to the upliftment of the agricultural sector.
Mustapha in his brief address told contractors that they must deliver works to a high standard and according to the contract.
He told the contractors that with President Irfaan Ali and Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo conducting meetings in many communities, beneficiaries of projects will voice their dissatisfaction at the poor quality of work.
“At the end of the day, everyone must be satisfied with the work, the contractors, the agencies and more importantly the beneficiaries. We know for a fact that our President and the Vice President [move] around the country themselves and when works are substandard, people complain to them directly,” Mustapha reminded as he urged contractors to deliver a high standard of work.
And while the government is making the necessary investments to propel the sector, the Minister noted, over the last year they have seen successes across the sector, encouraging them to make further investments.
“As a government, we have put in a lot of budgetary allocation in this sector. And we have seen increased allocations not only from the regular agencies like NDIA [National Drainage and Irrigation Authority] and NAREI [National Agriculture Research and Extension Institute], but like the Guyana Marketing Corporation [GMC], the GRDB [Guyana Rice Development Board], because we are looking at certain results that we want.”
The minister cautioned the contractors that while delays in completion of contracts were tolerated last year, this year the timelines subscribed to in the contracts will not be extended.
“Last year we have had some problems with contracts, let us hope we correct those problems and work on getting these work finish on time, I have been saying this at all the contract signing, the agriculture sector is very, very critical for us.”
The contracts awarded yesterday were procured by some of the agencies under the umbrella of the Ministry of Agriculture’s 2022 capital works.
The contracts awarded are as follows:
