The Ministry of Agriculture, under its capital works programme, yesterday signed off on close to $2 billion in contracts and $1.3b has been earmarked for the aging Liliendaal Pump Station.
Regarded as the “first tranche” of contracts from its $32B budgetary allocation, a contract to the value of $1.3 billion was signed for the rehabilitation of the Liliendaal Pump Station under the Guyana Flood Risk Management Project which is supported by the World Bank via the Agriculture Sector Development Unit’s Sustainable Agricultural Development Project (ASDU-SADP). The rehabilitation works will see the pump station improving its capacity to assist in the drainage of Georgetown and the Ogle, East Coast Demerara catchment. The rehabilitation works valued at $1,288,805,122 will be undertaken by General Engineering Supplies and Services while CEMCO will be executing supervisory works at $43.7M.
At the signing ceremony, held at the Ministry of Agriculture’s Boardroom, the World Bank’s Resident Representative to Guyana and Suriname, Diletta Doretti said the US$6M loan, which is financing the project, signals government’s commitment to mitigate flooding within the city. Doretti said she was elated to learn that a local company was awarded the contract for the execution of the works.
“The World Bank, in supporting the Government of Guyana, provided technical assistance with the development of a complementary master plan related to the Georgetown area which will be completed shortly,” she said.
A contract was also signed with NP Investment for construction of structures at Palmyra, Berbice to the tune of $57M. Under the works programme, M Sukhai Contracting Services was awarded a contract for the construction of revetment along the Lamaha Canal. Works under this contract are valued at $19.6M.
In brief remarks, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha said that “As we are improving the Flood Risk Management of our country, we are seeing more development especially in the agriculture sector. This project will help the entire eastern part of Region Four which will contribute to the ease of flooding in these areas.”
Mustapha said that the contract for the construction of the Guyana Laboratory and Food Safety Authority at La Bonne Intention (LBI) is also equally important at this juncture. With Guyana positioning itself to become the food supplier of the Caribbean, this facility will aid significantly in the promotion of the health and wellbeing of consumers. The contract for the laboratory was awarded to Anil Lalsa Construction. The contract is valued at $199.6M. In support of the Agriculture and Innovation Entrepreneurship Programme, a contract was awarded to Agrosol for the procurement of 100 tunnel houses, which will be distributed to youths in the programme. This contract is valued at $185M.
