“THIS is the time when the tyres will be hitting the road,” Minister of Public Infrastructure , David Patterson said on Wednesday as the ministry sets-off to bypass the 78.85% it achieved in works completed in 2016.Speaking to the media during the annual year-end review performance of the agencies which fall under the ambit of the Ministry, Patterson said that 2016 was a good year for the ministry.
“Overall, the locally funded programmes performed extremely well. This was with the exception of the hinterland infrastructure projects,” he said, in the presence of several heads of agencies at the Transport Sports Club on Thomas Lands in the city.
Patterson said too that last year several major internationally-funded projects were unable to start, and the list include the East Coast Demerara (ECD) Extension project, the Ogle/Diamond Bypass as well as the Guyana Power and Light, Lot “A” project.
According to Patterson, the ECD road expansion project is awaiting a definitive word from Exim Bank of China while the bypass linking Ogle with Diamond on the East Bank of Demerara, as well as the pedestrian overhead walkway projects, are planned for undertaking this year. The latter project will be the first of its kind to be undertaken in Guyana.
As regards the power company, Patterson apologised for the performance of the company as it relates to power outages which increased in frequency during the latter quarter of 2016.

Patterson announced that a new entity, known as Power Producers and Distribution Inc. was established late in 2016 and as January 1, the entity has taken over the operations of the Wartsilla power plants.
He said the company was fortunate to retain all of the previously employed local staff of Wartsilla and the staff will be complemented by returning Guyanese. According to Patterson, the services and trading mechanisms of the new firm will be enhanced and the same will bode for its maintenance schedules.
Patterson said that there were several highlights which will be carried into the new calendar year. Born in 2016 and taken into 2017 is the commitment by government to allow 20% of procurement of contracts to go to small contractors.
Patterson said that he is “heartened” that the process has already started, noting that the MPI has closed the pre-qualification shortlist of contractors on December 29 last year. He said that the MPI has received over 900 applications from small, medium and large contractors. He said the figures indicate that there is high interest and according to him, the contractors have illustrated that they have a genuine chance of successfully being awarded contracts for works.
Meanwhile, Patterson spoke highly of the Community Organised for Restoring the Environment (CORE) programme, the initiative which will see small community groups being provided with small and permanently sustainable employment to supplement the work of the Special Projects Unit of the MPI.
Patterson said that CORE , for which $150M was allocated in the 2017 budget, would be commissioned to undertake works such as upgrading parapets and improving the aesthetics of the area on a continual basis noting that maintenance has been an “arch enemy “ of the ministry.
Some 20 CORE groups will be established and will be paid to carry out works around the country in each administrative region. The groups will each comprise a team-leader and nine employees, Patterson said.