THE National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) yesterday opened bids for the large-scale infrastructural works connected to the East Demerara Water Conservancy Northern Relief Channel, for which land preparation works commenced February 5.
The three pieces of infrastructure include a high-level sluice, a bridge across the main road, and an EDWC head regulator.
The Northern Relief Channel, a $3B project, which had its formal commencement on October 1, 2010, has a timeline of 18 months for completion.
Yesterday’s opening took place at the NPTAB office in the Ministry of Finance compound in the presence of bidders and the representatives of agencies putting out the tenders. The media attended.
For the construction of a high-level sluice outfall structure for the Northern Relief Channel of the EDWC, Courtney Benn Contracting Services submitted a bid in the amount of $605.4M, while Samaroo’s Investments submitted a bid in the amount of $807.7M. For the same contract, Rupan Ramotar submitted a bid in the amount of $831.4M while B.K. International submitted a bid for $752.7M. The Engineer’s Estimate was $638.4M.
For the construction of a head regulator for the EDWC’s Northern Relief Channel, B.K. International put in a bid in the amount of $420.7M, Rupan Ramotar had a bid in the amount of $726.9M, Nabi and Sons $578.6M, and another contractor whose bid price was $499.4 million. According to the NPTAB, the Engineer’s Estimate for the works came up to $447M.
For the construction of a bridge across the East Coast Public Road, the NPTAB received four bids. The first was from Dipcon Engineering, with a bid price of $350M, while H. Nauth and Sons had a bid in the amount of $358.4M. Eagle Transportation and General Construction Inc. had a bid for $412M, while R. Bassoo and Sons had a bid in the amount of $620.8M. The Engineer’s Estimate for this project is $381.4M.
During a tour of the grounds in mid-February, Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud had noted that the earth-clearing works had been proceeding very extensively. The work had to be done in sections because of the weather, and the media were shown the extent of works from the Crown Dam outwards, a 10.3 kilometre distance of work that had been ongoing.
“Once we establish the 300 feet width, then the actual digging will start,” he said, pointing out ongoing work to clear the path on both sides of the canal.
According to the minister, from an economic standpoint, the project can pay for itself by preventing a disaster in one year. He explained that the country loses about US$15 million when there is one massive flood.
In addition to these works, the NPTAB also opened tender documents for the procurement of a number of other works and services in various sectors.
Among these were consultancy services for the Community Roads Improvement Programme (CRIP); the supply of line to the Guyana Water Inc (GWI); the construction of a sanitary block for the Maternity Ward of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation; the development of a maintenance plan for technical institutions under the Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET); the development of occupation and competency assessment under TVET, and the development of an appropriate curriculum for the technical teacher training programme at the Government Technical Institute (GTI).