MINISTER of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, has confirmed that the government has granted the contractor working on the East Coast Demerara road expansion project, approval to important stone even as there are several local stone producers.
At least two stone producers have expressed concern as they feel local producers were being left out.

The Guyana Chronicle has learnt from at least one major stone producer that his company has not been receiving requests for stone.

Asked if his company is in a position to fulfil the demand that may flow from the ongoing works, while at the same time servicing the other projects in which he currently might be involved, he said yes.

This publication also made contact with three other producers who refused to comment extensively on the matter.

This newspaper learned that some of the local producers had met officials of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure to discuss expectations. timelines and demands

Minister Patterson clarified that a few months ago, the decision was made for the contractor working on the East Coast Demerara project to import 60 tonnes of stone over a six-month period, as they needed some 15,000 tonnes per month.

“They were getting about 6,000 tonnes from Toolsie and BK and some others never submitted their samples,” Patterson noted.

He explained that since the project is an internationally funded one, there are some guidelines which ought to have been followed, coupled with specifications. One had to do with prospecting suppliers submitting stone of a specific grade and quality as preferred by the contractor.

The minister said that after the samples were not provided within a certain timeframe and the project had to go on, lest there be delays and costs overruns, the contractor was allowed to import the stone over the six-month period. It was hoped that the six-month period would have allowed the local producers to get their houses in order. Patterson said that the period given to the contractor to import the stone has not yet expired.
“It was agreed, because we did not want the work to be delayed and that gives our local guys the time to get their work in order; and I think we have an MoU to that effect. Also, some of these guys have their projects running and we were afraid that if we tell the contractor to go and take stones from that, that we would have a national shortage,” said Patterson.