A CONTRACT for $12M was signed on Monday for the construction of fences around three of the four recently commissioned multi-purpose centres.
Minister of Housing and Water, Mr. Irfaan Ali made the disclosure on Tuesday at a media briefing in his Brickdam, Georgetown, office.
He said the construction will be undertaken at Belle West and Westminster, West Bank Demerara and Cummings Lodge,Greater Georgetown.
Ali had, previously, announced at the ceremony for the commissioning centre at Belle West, Canal Number Two Polder, that  tenders for that job and two others were being put out.
He said the playfields would also be upgraded in the second phase of work to be done at the centres.
Ali also responded to an article in Kaieteur News, which compared the cost of one of the four centres to that of an unfinished house and said the ministry had handed over an over-priced, multi-purpose facility, with no fence and an abandoned playfield, to the beneficiary community.
The minister pointed out, though, that there is another phase of the projects, which includes  development of the playfields and  fencing of the centres, but that was totally ignored in the Kaieteur News article.
Ali , acknowledging that further work was to be done, explained that, notwithstanding the agreement to involve the communities, the ministry would assume responsibility for financing and completing the outstanding tasks.
He said that was made clear during the several community meetings and the newspaper report was an attempt to deliberately mislead people.
“What the newspaper did not say, conveniently, is that this project was a public tender where four firms tendered and the contract was awarded to the lowest responsive bidder through a public, transparent national procurement process,” Ali stated.
He deemed the article an “erosion of ethical, fair, honest, responsible and professional journalism.”
Ali said the construction of the community centres goes far beyond infrastructure,  toward building community spirit and expanding social networks, building trust and breaking down social barriers.
In that regard, he emphasised that his ministry continues to pursue the programmes designed to deliver benefits to all Guyanese.