–with planned $250M extension of main access road
–other major projects to be executed as Agriculture Ministry awards $600M in contracts

SOME 13 contracts valuing over $600 million were, on Wednesday, awarded to contractors by the Ministry of Agriculture for critical works in the sector.
At a simple signing ceremony at his Regent Street office on Wednesday, Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, said: “These are large projects that people have made representation for and we are hoping that these projects can help us to ensure we enhance production. That means that we will have to do it in a timely manner because we will not extend the contract time.”

He went on to say: “I hope that the agency heads will ensure that these projects come in on time… we are already in the seventh month of the year and we are hoping to complete them before the year is out. These projects will make a critical aspect of our budget [projects], so I want to implore contractors to ensure that they execute the work with the specification and also do it on time so that we can finish our work.”

The largest project of the set is a $251.4 million extension of the main access road at Tacama, Region 10 (Upper Demerara Upper Berbice). The contract for this project was awarded to Associated Construction Services.
This project encompasses the construction of 25 kilometres of road, which will provide access to over 30,000 acres of savannah lands for the cultivation of corn, soya and sorghum, among other produce.

Additionally, the construction of this roadway is also expected to result in the reduced cost of production owing to an anticipated reduction in transportation costs.
The project is one of seven awarded under the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA). The NDIA projects accounted for the largest tranche of contracts, totalling $531.4 million.

Further, among the 13 projects are works valuing $200 million to be executed in Reliance on the Essequibo Coast. This is a follow up to promises made by President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, to residents of that community during a recent Cabinet outreach.

A project for the construction of a head regulator and tail wall at C1 – C6 Area in Essequibo is divided into three lots, all totalling $158.5 million. Two lots worth $59.8 million each were awarded to Technocon Investment, while Lot One, valuing $38.7, was awarded to H. Ramballi General Construction.

Construction of this head regulator and tail wall will improve the regulation of water in and out of the irrigation channels, which will reduce the wastage of water and improve the drainage for rice lands in those areas.
A contract for the construction of another head regulator at Reliance was awarded to United Contracting & Supplies for $30.7 million.

Another contract valuing $35.2 million was awarded to Reliance Inc. for the construction of the access road to the Hope High Level drainage structure.
The construction of this road will provide improved access to farmlands, while the area is also expected to benefit from reduced transportation costs.

A contract for the construction of the intake structure at Naamryck on the East Bank Essequibo was awarded to Raj Civil Engineering Construction for $34.9 million.
Of the contracts awarded, the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) had two contracts totalling $23.0 million for the construction of a dehydration facility at Hope Estate and the retrofitting of an agro processing facility at Charity. The contracts were awarded to Triple A Construction Supplies and Services, and NK Engineering Services, respectively.

The Hydrometeriological Office has two contracts totalling $50.5 million for the supply, delivery and testing of hydromet equipment, which includes an automatic absorption spectrometer and a geophysical resistivity meter. The supply of the hydromet equipment were awarded to Western Scientific.

Minister Mustapha, following the award of those contracts, affirmed that the ministry will be following the process from start to finish, since the contracts form a critical part of the ministry’s work programme for this year.