SIX Regional Democratic Councils on Wednesday signed contracts to the value of $210M for the construction of new medical and educational facilities in their respective districts.
Over 5000 residents from regions four, three, six, seven, nine and ten, will benefit from the projects, said Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, prior to the signing of the contracts at the Ministry of Communities on Wednesday. Bulkan said the contracts were awarded to the lowest evaluated or responsive bidders after an open and competitive bidding process.
“Aside from our effort to maintain transparency and accountability, the projects are important because they will directly benefit persons from across six of the management regions and in four sectors of development which include education, health, transport and regional management,” the minister explained.

The projects that will be undertaken are the construction of a nursery school at Schoonord by KP Engineering for $28.9M; construction of Vryheid’s Lust North Nursery School by Simcon Engineering Co for $21.9M; construction of Strathspey Nursery School by Mojo’s General Construction for $20.9M;construction of a health centre at Supply, EBD by Navin and Sons Construction for $30.1M; construction of new Doctor’s Quarter in New Amsterdam by Simcon Engineering Co for $18.1M; construction of Kamarang Primary School by B&S Contracting Services for $28.9M; construction of Regional Administrative Annex building in Lethem by N&A Construction for $19.1M; construction of a health centre at Amelia’s ward by Simcom Engineering Co for $24.5M; and the rehabilitation of Ballfield Road, Wismar, Linden by Y. Bhola Construction Services for $17.5M.

Minister Bulkan said those projects are a testament of Government’s commitment to develop communities countrywide. Prior to the allocation of the contracts, the ministry had conducted discussions with the various RDCs to ascertain some of the critical issues and need in the six regions.

Based on how important the projects are to the communities, Bulkan said they should be completed in a timely and efficient manner so that the residents would not have to wait longer for the services they require. In order to ensure that the projects are done properly, the ministry and the RDCs will constantly monitor the sites. Finance Secretary, Hector Butts also stressed the need for the projects to be done in a timely manner and of a high quality.