OVER $8B in contracts for about 287 community roads in Region Six were signed on Wednesday at the Albion Community Centre Ground.

Ministers of Government Dr. Ashni Singh and Bishop Juan Edghill urged the contractors to prioritise quality and timely completion. The works will be carried out by 200 contractors.

Speaking to contractors, Senior Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh emphasised the importance of declining to sign if they are unable to meet the specifications and timeline stated in the Bills of Quantities.

In reiterating the points made of Minister Edghill and Regional Chairman David Armogan, he stressed, “When these contracts are awarded, contractors have a legal obligation to deliver the road in accordance with specifications and on time and if you are nervous about your capacity to do so, when your name is called, go up to the Permanent secretary and say to him I don’t think I can make this work, I’m saying that clearly to you. This is not an opportunity to get a contract and draw down on mobilisation advance and splurge.”

He explained that the government is determined to fulfill its commitments and ensure that their investments are worthwhile. They will enforce all appropriate penalties outlined in the contract if contractors fail to comply, as directed by the Head of State.

“I am putting you on notice and not just you alone in, all contractors who have a contract with the government to perform works I am putting you on notice that we will be conducting enhanced monitoring of the discharge of the contractual obligations. Don’t sign a three or four months’ contract if you know to yourself you cannot deliver this contract in the three or four months the contract period that is stipulated in the document you are about to sign. I’m saying this to you on the authority of the president, we are going to take corrective and remedial actions whether it means terminating the contract, imposing liquidating damages, blacklisting you, we will be taking corrective actions against contractors who are not delivering contracts on time,” the finance minister noted.

Dr. Singh provided assurance that the government’s plan to improve the lives of citizens throughout Guyana will involve substantial investments in infrastructure until every street in the country is repaired.

“I am saying to you now on behalf of the President, Prime Minister and Vice President whom I have the honour to serve and on behalf of the cabinet which I have the privilege to be a part of, our commitment is to continue this work until every single street is fixed. That is our commitment to you so don’t get nervous if you see some streets being done and yours is not done, we are coming, if your street is not in this list it will be in the next batch, we are coming to your street and every single street will be fixed,” he explained.

Dr. Singh noted that so far some $27 Billion has been spent on streets and roads since President Dr. Irfaan Ali’s Government took office and he has personally seen the impact this has made in many communities where gone are the days where people have to walk in mud and having to remove their footwear whenever they go to school or work.

The finance minister reminded that as a result of the responsible and prudent management of Guyana’s economy, Government is able to fix more roads than ever before and to fix them more quickly.

“It takes careful management of the resources of the country to ensure that we are able to earmark resources at this level to be able to invest in infrastructure in the manner in which we are doing,” Dr. Singh emphasized.

“If you examine the composition of the Budgets during the APNU/AFC years, versus the composition of the Budgets during the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) years in Government, there is one very distinct difference…until 2014 when we were in government and would have appropriated our last budget there was a particular trend and that trend was visibly broken during 20150-2020 and was only restored from 2021 and what was is that trend? Throughout the years that the PPPC has been in government, we have recognised the importance of investing in public capital assets or public capital goods and so every PPP/C Government budget reflects a strong emphasis on the capital budget,” the Minister reiterated.

Dr. Singh then juxtaposed this with the APNU/AFC’s period in office where he recalled that ‘there was an immediate decline, an immediate slashing of the capital budget and an immediate spike in the recurrent budget’.

“The capital budget is used to build roads, schools, hospitals, bridges, airports, airstrips -investing in the things that matter for the long term of our country. The recurrent budget is essentially what we would call government consumption-transportation, meals and refreshments-and if you examine the composition of the budget during the APNU/AFC years, you will see that as soon as they came into government they slashed the capital budget and they dramatically increased the recurrent budget-the amount they were spending on meals and travel,” he concluded.

The finance minister then promised on behalf of President Irfaan Ali and the current administration that Government is committed to continuing to work until every street is fixed in every village in Region Six and every area countrywide.

Meanwhile, Minister of Public Works Bishop Juan Edghill, in his remarks noted that while defending the supplementary funds in the National Assembly for the construction of more roads, he had emphasized that as a country ‘we have been able to do more than we anticipated’.

‘So at the beginning of the year when we had the National Budget, we had a sum that was allocated for the building of community roads, what we call miscellaneous roads, we went out to tender, we signed contracts, and we saw the execution of a number or projects. The Minister of Finance informed that there was fiscal space and because of that fiscal space, we received an allocation to be able to do more community roads,” he explained to residents.

The public works minister elaborated that the initial budget for community roads has been fully utilized and these 287 roads are part of a supplementary budget allocation due to their successful fulfillment of promises made to citizens.

“We went to parliament for a supplementary provision, of that provision a significant sum of money was appropriated for miscellaneous roads, while defending those sums in the National Assembly, I told the nation why we are asking for more money is because as a country we have been able to do more than we anticipated,” he added.

Similar to Dr. Singh, Minister Edghill made it clear that the government will be holding contractors accountable, not anyone else.

He warned about contractors initiating work and abandoning it unfinished, leaving the residents to bear the burden of inconvenience. Moreover, he acknowledged that government engineers would also bear responsibility for endorsing substandard works and face punitive measures. He emphasized the importance of transparency and cooperation. Regional Chairman David Armogan, Vice Chairman Zamal Hussein, and Regional Executive Officer Narendra Singh were also in attendance at the signing ceremony.